Duran, Holobaugh, Lawrence, Sicilia, Tamura among UFC fighter releases

The UFC’s fighter cuts have continued, just as company president Dana White promised they would.

The promotion has released Reuben Duran, Kurt Holobaugh, Justin Lawrence, Sam Sicilia and Issei Tamura. UFC officials on Wednesday confirmed the news to MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).

In addition, company officials confirmed the release of Antonio Carvalho, Leonard Garcia, Pablo Garza and Bart Palaszewski. Their releases previously had been reported by MMAjunkie.com.

Duran (8-5-1 MMA, 1-3 UFC) in March lost his second straight bout when George Roop took a unanimous decision from him in a bantamweight fight at UFC 158 in Montreal. Before that, he was knocked out by Hugo Viana at the TUF 16 Finale in Las Vegas. His lone UFC win was a third-round “Submission of the Night” victory over Francisco Rivera at the TUF 13 Finale in June 2011, but injuries kept him on the shelf for 18 months after that.

Holobaugh (9-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC) made his UFC debut at this past month’s UFC 159 in Newark, N.J. But he came out on the short end of a unanimous decision to Steven Siler in a featherweight bout that opened up the card at Prudential Center. Holobaugh came to the UFC in the merger with Strikeforce, where he made his promotional debut in January with a loss to Pat Healy that snapped the 9-0 perfect start to his career.

Lawrence (4-2 MMA 1-2 UFC), a cast member on Season 15 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” dropped his second straight a month ago when he was submitted by Daniel Pineda in just 95 seconds at the TUF 17 Finale in Las Vegas. In August 2012, he was knocked out in the second round against Max Holloway at UFC 150, a fight that marked his featherweight debut after dropping down from lightweight.

Sicilia (11-3 MMA, 1-2 UFC), also a “TUF 15? cast member, dropped his second straight when he lost a unanimous decision to Maximo Blanco at the TUF 17 Finale. That fight was his second at featherweight, dropping him to 0-2 in the division after a a UFC 153 TKO loss to Rony Jason in October. His lone official UFC win came against Cristiano Marcello at the TUF 15 Finale in a lightweight bout.

Tamura (7-4 MMA, 1-2 UFC) in March was knocked out by T.J. Dillashaw at UFC 158 in Montreal, giving him two straight setbacks since a drop from featherweight to bantamweight. This past July, he lost by second-round TKO to Raphael Assuncao to erase a knockout win over Tiequan Zhang in his UFC debut at UFC 144 in his native Japan.

(Pictured: Justin Lawrence)