UFC 162 Recap

The end of an unbeaten streak.

Holy. Crap. That is the only thing that could be said following the main event.  Anderson Silva, the greatest fighter in UFC history, was defeated by Chris Weidman.  More to come on that.  As for now, let us recap the UFC 162 event on a whole, and bestow fighters with a bunch of Brutal Sports Awards that mean nothing!

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• Mike Pierce continues his winning ways by stopping John Mitchell.
• Brian Melancon looks very impressive by stopping Seth Baczynski in his UFC debut.

FX:

• Edson Barboza wins his second career fight via leg kick TKO.
• Gonzaga knocks out Herman in only seconds.
• Norman Parke looks incredible in his decision over Kazuki Tokudome.  Tokudome has one hell of a chin though!
• Craig did not look impressive, but neither did Leben.  Craig was able to pull off a decision win.

PPV:

• Cub Swanson and Dennis Siver was one of those fights that I hyped up so much that it could do nothing but disappoint me.  Or it could just deliver because Cub is awesome!  Siver actually held his own in the standup and on the ground.  Cub was just too resilient and could handle everything Siver was dishing out.  Much like Dustin Porier, Siver is a winner despite the loss to Cub.  You can do everything right and still lose to Cub because he is on another level right now.  The big question after this fight is, "Does Cub deserve a title shot?"  My answer is yes.  Cub has now rattled off 5 wins in a row since his loss to Ricardo Lamas in late 2011.  Lamas is the other man who may deserve a title shot.  Here is the thing with that.  Lamas was a top contender scheduled to fight to Zombie for a shot at the winner of Pettis/Aldo.  A knee injury sends Pettis back to lightweight and Zombie gets a title shot.  Lamas has 4 HUGE wins in a row against tough, top guys in Swanson, Hioki, and Koch.  However, it is his inactivity that is preventing him from being the next guy in line for a title shot.  He has 2 wins since besting Cub, while cup has 5 wins since losing to Lamas.  I like Cub to get the Zombie/Aldo winner and I would like to see Lamas take on the winner of Guida/Mendes for a title shot.
• Munoz made a huge statement in his win over Tim Boetsch.  The Barbarian looked good in spurts, but Munoz out powered him with wrestling and ridiculous ground and pound.  Munoz is back to being a threat for the title going forward.  Tim is still a great fighter, but he is on the outside of the top 10 looking in at this point.
• Kennedy and Gracie was super boring.  Good for Kennedy to neutralize Gracie's submission game and use superior wrestling to squeeze out a victory.  Boring fight but huge win for Tim.
• Frankie Edgar and Charles Oliveira put on a show winning Fight of the Night.  Edgar finally is able to get into the win column is his first non title fight in a long time.  Props to Oliveira for hanging in tough, but Edgar's wrestling and striking was too much for him.  The youngster has a bright future and Edgar is still a top talent in the UFC.
• Anderson Silva was knocked out by Chris Weidman.  More to come on this fight later.  But holy cow was it a sight to see.

Picks entering UFC 162: 88/153

Picks for UFC 162: 7/11

Pick totals: 95/164=58%

UFC bonuses:

FOTN: Edgar/Oliveira and Swanson/Siver

SOTN: None

KOOTN: Weidman

 

Brutal Sports Awards:

Beatdown of the Night: Mark Munoz

Sketchiest Decision of the Night: Craig/Leben (close but I think they got it right)

Upset of the Night: OBVIOUSLY CHRIS WEIDMAN

The cut list:

• Dave Herman

Three Stars:

1. Chris Weidman
2. Cub Swanson
3. Mark Munoz