Tuesday was just one of those days where the UFC decided it was time to clean house.

MMA Fighting reported, and the UFC subsequently confirmed, that the world’s leading mixed martial arts promotion cut 16 of their fighters yesterday morning.

The full list of the competitors who were let go have been broken down by their respective weight classes:

Flyweight: Ulysses Gomez

Bantamweight: Motonobu Tezuka

Featherweight: Josh Grispi

Lightweight: Jacob Volkmann, Paul Sass, C.J. Keith, Terry Etim

Welterweight: Jon Fitch, Che Mills, Jay Hieron, Jorge Santiago, Simeon Thoresen, Mike Stumpf

Light Heavyweight: Vladimir Matyushenko, Wagner Prado

Heavyweight: Mike Russow

While several of the firings are at least a little surprising, none can come as more of a shock than former UFC welterweight title challenger Jon Fitch.

The American Kickboxing Academy product boasts a rock solid 14-3-1 inside the Octagon, though his recent 1-2-1 record is not particularly impressive.

Even after decisively losing his title bid against divisional champ Georges St. Pierre at UFC 87 in Aug. 2008, Fitch rattled off five straight wins and was again near the cream of the crop at 170-pounds.

However, his recent skid began at UFC 127 in Feb. 2011, where he fought BJ Penn to a draw, losing to fresh contenders Johny Hendricks and Demian Maia as well.

His sole victory in the past two-and-a-half years was at UFC 153 in October, winning “Fight of the Night” honors against rising Brazilian prospect Erick Silva.

Fitch’s cut is even more puzzling considering the fact he was ranked as the ninth best welterweight in the world by the UFC’s official rankings, which came out on Monday.

Today, the ninth spot on the list is blank.

Did Fitch deserve to be handed his pink slip or was this a very poor business decision by the UFC?