Mike Ricci, three others removed from UFC roster

The bloodletting continues. Yesterday, Bloody Elbow brought you the news of a few fighters being removed from the UFC roster, the most surprising of which being longtime middleweight staple Yushin Okami. We have now learned of four more releases. The first is a TUF finalist that didn't exactly light it up in his bout at UFC 165 (via Kevin Iole of Yahoo):

Working on a post on Okami being cut with quotes from @danawhite explaining. Also, White said Mike Ricci was also cut. @YahooSports

— Kevin Iole (@KevinI) September 27, 2013

Ricci (8-4) made the welterweight final of The Ultimate Fighter 16, but dropped a decision to Colton Smith. After dropping back down to his natural weight class of 155 pounds, he picked up a lackluster win over TUF Smashes finalist Colin Fletcher, but followed it up with the stinker against Myles Jury last weekend. That loss cost him his job.

Along with Ricci, three other fighters were removed from the roster:

• Yuri Villefort (6-3, 0-2 UFC) - The former Strikeforce fighter dropped a decision to Nah-Shon Burrell, then followed it up with a close loss to Sean Spencer at UFC Fight Night 28. Combined with a loss in his last Strikeforce fight, it was enough for him to get the pink slip.
• Joao Zeferino (13-6, 0-2 UFC) - He dropped a fight outside of his natural weight class in his UFC debut, dropping a decision to Rafael Natal at middleweight. He was given another fight at welterweight, but lost a decision to Elias Silverio at UFN 28.
• Keith Wisniewski (28-15-1, 0-4 UFC) - After returning to the promotion at UFC on Versus 6, Wisniewski dropped three straight bouts to Josh Neer, Chris Clements, and most recently Ivan Jorge.