UFC cuts Kevin Burns, Edgar Garcia, Shane Nelson and Darrill Schoonover

The UFC spread some holiday cheer last week by cutting four of its under-performing fighters following their losses at The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 10 Finale on Dec. 5 and UFC 107: "Penn vs. Sanchez" on Dec. 12 as reported by Watch Kalib Run.

Welterweights Kevin Burns and Edgar Garcia along with lightweight Shane Nelson and heavyweight Darrill Schoonover have all joined the recently-booted light heavyweight Houston Alexander on the MMA unemployment line.

Burns was probably the least surprising of the bunch, having dropped three straight inside the Octagon. After getting put to sleep by Anthony Johnson at the TUF 8 Finale back in Dec. 2008, "The Fire(d)" came up short against Chris Lytle at the June 20 TUF 9 Finale and TJ Grant at UFC 107 earlier this month.

Schoonover was obliterated by Marcus Jones during the tenth season of TUF but was afforded a second chance at UFC fame during the Dec. 5 Finale. After he was stopped by James McSweeney, the UFC probably decided they had seen enough.

"The Boss" has been recalled for active duty in the military and will likely be the least affected by his release.

Garcia was called up to the bigs after knocking out Hiromitsu Miura at WEC 38 but was unable to keep that momentum going, coming up short against Brad Blackburn at the TUF 9 Finale and then DeMarques Johnson at UFC 107.

Finally, Shane Nelson, a graduate of the TUF 8 program, gets his pink slip after back-to-back unanimous decision losses to Aaron Riley at UFC 101and Matt Wiman at UFC 107.

The lesson here (as it has always been) is that unless you're Clay Guida or Wanderlei Silva, dropping two straight under the Zuffa banner is usually a fast track to finding work elsewhere.