It appears that there are two fewer Japanese fighters in the UFC today, as both Takenori Sato and Kazuki Tokudome were removed from the UFC's active rosters. Accompanying the move were the removal of Jesse Ronson and Paulo Thiago. Thiago's camp released a public statement announcing his release a couple weeks back and Ronson has already appeared back on the Canadian regional scene (defeating Dom O'Grady in October), so it's unlikely that Takanori or Kazuki's removal is indictative of anything other than their release. UFCFIGHTERSiNFO first announced the change on Twitter.

[Deleted] Takenori Sato (Welter) [Deleted] Kazuki Tokudome (Light) http://t.co/RKRUj5q3Ed — UFCFIGHTERSiNFO (@UFCFIGHTERSiNFO) November 4, 2014

Takenori made his UFC debut back in February of this year, in an ill-fated bout against Erick Silva. Silva needed less than a minute to dispatch Sato, who failed to land any offense in the fight. His followup bout, against Hyun Gyu Lim in September, didn't do him any further favors, as Hyun Gyu KO'd Takenori at 1:18 of the first round. All told, it's been a rough run for a man considered one of the best disciples of Kazushi Sakuraba, but who likely, even at 29 entered the UFC too late, as he already had a 10-year MMA career under his belt.

As for Kazuki, his performances have slowly decreased in quality since opening his UFC career with a solid win over Cristiano Marcello. He then took a narrow loss to Norman Parke and suffered a brutal back and forth beating at the hands of Yui Chul Nam. His most recent bout, against the debuting and unheralded Johnny Case, was one he was still favored to win, but ended up being his first stoppage loss under the Zuffa banner. He'll exit the promotion with a 1-3 record overall.

There's no real surprises in either of these cuts. Takenori is pretty clearly not competitive at an international level and while Kazuki may still have some miles on the tread, he has major fundamental holes in his game that need fixing. If he can get a couple wins on the regional circuit, I could see him getting another callup, the next time the UFC goes to Japan, but it's hard to see him winning consistently against good competition with his present skills.