Luigi Fioravanti

("No Love" has "No Job." Photo courtesy of UFC.com.)

Now that the country is losing jobs at a rate of almost 20,000/day, it was only a matter of time before the UFC's contracted fighters began to feel the crunch. FiveOuncesofPain reports that the following fighters have been released from their contracts — and will now enter the worst job market since World War II:

— Rich Clementi was dropped shortly after tapping to a guillotine choke in the first round of his match with Gleison Tibau at Saturday's UFC Fight Night 17. It was his second-consecutive loss in the Octagon, following a previous decision loss to Gray Maynard at UFC 90. This is actually the third time that the UFC has given Clementi his walking papers; he was also dropped after losing his first UFC fight to Yves Edwards in 2003, and again after going 1-2 following his stint on TUF 4 in 2006-7.

— Luigi Fioravanti was also cut after UFC Fight Night 17. Though he was able to score a decision win over Brodie Farber at "Fight for the Troops" in December, his first-round TKO loss to Anthony Johnson on Saturday was his fourth loss in his last six UFC appearances.

(Sanchez, lookin' like a straight badass.)

Sherdog reports that Diego Sanchez, born-again-hard after his beating of David Bielkheden earlier this month at UFC 82, has verbally accepted a main-event fight against fellow welterweight Luigi Fioravanti at the Ultimate Fighter 7 finale on June 21st in Las Vegas. Fioravanti has a 3-2 record in the UFC, and most recently threw around Luke "Sickly" Cummo at "Pride of a Champion." It feels like a second tune-up match for Sanchez, but at least it's relatively high-profile; if Sanchez ever had contract beef with the UFC, it's been resolved and he's back on the star track again.

The other UFC news that interests us today is this Variety feature (dug up by MMAPayout) about the potential of MMA stars crossing over into Hollywood. The important bit:

[I]nvestors have approached UFC's execs about forming a film division that would produce pics that star the league's fighters. WWE has a similar arm that's pumped out three pics so far and is readying its fourth.

Does this mean we'll be seeing a new version of See No Evil starring Tim Sylvia? A "UFC Films" deal could potentially turn into a quagmire of ill-advised cheesiness — but on the other hand, Quinton Jackson needs some better roles than Midnight Meat Train...