UFC Unemployment Line: Coleman, Trigg, Nover, Hague, Rolles

The UFC's axe fell hard in the aftermath of UFC 109.

The following fighters were cast-off into unemployment after the UFC released them from their contracts:  UFC 109 headliner Mark Coleman, MMA veteran Frank Trigg, the man described by Dana White on TUF as "the next Anderson Silva", Phillipe Nover, Canadian heavyweight Tim Hague, and the man who had a very disappointing UFC debut, Rolles Gracie.

Coleman departs the octagon with a 1-2 record since his UFC return, dropping lackluster fights to "Shogun" Rua and Randy Couture, and earning a decision over Stephan Bonnar in between.  In his last 10, Coleman is just 4-6--albeit against stiff competition, such as Fedor Emelianenko, Mirko CroCop, and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in Pride.

Questions about Frank Trigg's future surfaced after the former RAW wrestler was blasted by Josh Koscheck in his return fight, and Matt Serra sealed his fate by administering the same treatment.  Trigg skated in on a nice streak of 6-1 that included solid opposition like "Mayhem" Miller, Kazuo Misaki, Makoto Takimoto, and Falaniko Vitale.

Phillipe Nover was 5-0-1 coming into The Ultimate Fighter, and despite garnering high accolades from Dana White and isolating himself as a favorite to win the show, Nover was out-wrestled and out-hustled by Efrain Escudero in the finale, thumped by Kyle Bradley at UFC 98, and bested on the cards by Rob Emerson at UFC 109--leaving him officially winless in the UFC.

Heavyweight Tim Hague also entered the UFC with acclaimed skills and a 9-1 record, and tasted success in his first bout with a nice guillotine-finish of Pat Barry.  Todd Duffee quickly altered Hague's significant momentum by making him the victim of one of the UFC's quickest KO's in history, and although marred with a little controversy on the judges' decision, Hague lost a decision to Chris Tuchscherer at 109.

Having only one shot to prove yourself may be tough, but that's part of the negative side of having a glamorous last name like "Gracie".  Rolles Gracie looked half-asleep and stuck in slow-motion in his first and only octagon appearance against Joey "The Mexicutioner" Beltran, who capitalized on Gracie's sluggish movement by simply avoiding a few telegraphed takedowns and then punching him in the head until he stopped defending.

The UFC continues to run a lean machine and punish those who don't perform, which isn't a bad thing; it does keep the fighters with the highest success rate in the top promotion while opening up the talent pool for the smaller organizations to cherry-pick from and offer a platform for the struggling fighters to get back on track.