UFC 163 Recap

Phil Davis picks up a controversy win over Machida.

UFC 163 was not the best card put together by the UFC brass in 2013, but it was moderately fun.  Of all the winners and losers, it was the 125 lb division that won the most.  Easily the two best fights and basically the only FOTN candidates were the flyweight bouts featured on this card.  Oh and this Jose Aldo guy showed why I have him as the pound for pound king, and most others have him top 4.  Also an honorable mention to Brian Stann who did a great job in Joe Rogan's absence.  I love Rogan calling fights but would take Stann to partner up with Florian over Jon Anik any day of the week.  Please UFC give him the job on Fox Sports 2 fight nights to replace Anik.

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• Viscardi Andrade made quick work of Bristol Marunde in his UFC debut securing a TKO finish in under 2 minutes.
• Ednaldo Oliveira laid an egg against Francimar Barroso.  Barroso also wins his UFC debut with a decision victory.
• Rani Yahya looked impressive through two rounds, but Josh Clopton hung tough and won the 3rd.  Unimpressive win for Yahya that proved he has much work to do before he gets in the top 10.

FX for the final time :'(

• Ian "Uncle Creepy" McCall finally got that much needed first win in the UFC.  Ilarde Santos was very game and landed his fair share of shots.  Both men took home FOTN bonus checks and secured their jobs going forward.
• Sergio Moraes never stopped smiling this entire event.  His smile was well deserved when he took home Submission of the Night with a crazy mounted triangle choke of Neil Magny.
• Amanda Nunes looked like a beast using wrestling, striking, and power to make quick work of Sheila Gaff.  First round TKO for Nunes.
• I made fun of Anthony Perosh when doing my picks because he is always getting knocked out in under a minute.  He lasted on 7 seconds against Ryan Jimmo.  Vinny Magalhaes only lasted 14 seconds against Perosh.  Huge first round KO for old man Perosh, who took home a KO of the Night bonus check.

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• The other flyweight matchup between John Lineker and Jose Maria was a great fight as well.  Lineker missed weight which makes me think he is not quite ready to be a top 5 flyweight at the moment.  His power at 125 might even exceed that of John Dodson.  He is lightning quick, powerful, and composed in his fights.  Jose was able to land a spinning back fist that staggered Lineker for a moment.  But John was able to weather the storm and finish Maria in the second round.  Lineker looks incredible so far in his UFC tenure, but I noticed in his fights that he lacks the skilled footwork of the top 5 guys.  DJ, Benavidez, Dodson, Moraga, and even McCall have much better footwork than Lineker so they could be in and out in a moment on their way to beating him to a decision win.  However, Lineker is an excellent counter striker and only needs one punch to end a fight.  I would like to see power vs power in his next fight, and put Dodson against Lineker.  If Lineker is strong enough to contend with Dodson then maybe he could fight for the title after the Benavidez/Formiga winner takes on DJ.
• Thales Leites looked incredible in his return to the UFC.  He looked not only impressive, but like a potential top 10 guy in the near future.  I give full credit to Tom Watson for surviving his chokes and punches.  Watson is a guy with a granite chin who is not about to give up in any fight.  Leites was beat up by Watson pretty good, but was the clear winner anyway.  Leites via 3 round domination.
• Cezar Ferreira only needed a minute to dispose of Thiago Santos.  The TUF Brazil middleweight winner looked very impressive in securing a guillotine choke.
• Phil Davis won 29-28 on all three judges scorecards in a VERY controversial decision.  The judges all gave Lyoto the 3rd round for obvious reasons, but the fact that they gave Davis the 1st is ridiculous.  Davis got a late takedown but landed nothing on the ground.  Lyoto picked him apart the entire round with counter strikes and threw one combo that was devastating.  I am NOT a Machida fan but I think he was robbed by his hometown judges.  I was thinking during the fight that win or lose, Davis proved that he has made drastic improvement in his striking game.  He looked more well rounded, instead of just being a power wrestler.  I do not move him up in the rankings too much because I felt he lost the fight, but his stock still improved because he could at least hang with "the Dragon."  As for Machida, he is up there with Ben Henderson, Frankie Edgar, and Leonard Garcia as one of those guys that is just always part of controversial decisions.  The old Machida was the man nobody could figure out.  The new Machida is a boring counter striker that is always in a controversial decision.  He needs to get back to winning fights via KO like he did in spectacular fashion against Rashad Evans, Randy Couture, and Ryan Bader.  Davis and Machida are both in contention if they win their next fights impressively, but it seems Glover Teixeira is next in line after Gustafsson for a title shot, assuming he gets past Bader.  Oh and don't forget about that ogre Daniel Cormier, who is doing a lot of chirping to Jones but is still looking fat as ever.  Shut up DC, you have done nothing yet.  Beat Roy and lose some lbs and then we will talk.
• Sorry for my Cormier rant, here is the main event recap.  Jose Aldo actually fractured his right foot on the first kick he threw.  His kick was checked and Aldo fractured his foot on the kneecap of Jung.  Jung was more conservative than ever and rightfully so.  He felt the power of Aldo and saw his speed with counter punches and knew he had to play things intelligently.  This may not have been the exciting fight everyone expected, but it did show the world class talent of Jose Aldo.  Aldo threw 3 high left leg kicks and shortly after Chan Sung Jung's right shoulder popped out of place.  Despite being up 3-0 on rounds easily, Aldo went in for the kill and finished off the Korean Zombie in the 4th.  If you don't agree with me that this guy is more impressive than Jones, Silva, and GSP I am beginning to lose patience with you.  Frankie Edgar was the lightweight champ and was in two controversial decisions against Benson Henderson, but Aldo annihilated this guy.  He had now defended his thrown 7 times against the best fighters in the world and if he gets through Swanson and Mendes again, as well as Ricardo Lamas, there is no denying that he is the king of the MMA universe.  He is the lone Brazilian champion (unless you count interim champ Renan Barao, Aldo's prodigious training partner) and is as dominant as ever. Aldo also had 0 problems making weight this time around and is set at being a 145 champ for a few more years.  I do think that is best for him, but I also think if he wanted to he could go up to 155 and slap Henderson, Pettis, Grant, Melendez, Diaz, and the rest of the 155 lb world around as well.  Aldo could debatable go up to 170 and beat up a couple of those clowns too if I am being honest with you.  Maybe not Hendricks or GSP, but I honestly think Aldo would handle himself against Ellenberger, Condit, Kampmann and a couple other top 10 talent welterweights.  As for now he is the Brutal Sports pound for pound king and one of the scariest dudes in mixed martial arts.

My Picks entering UFC 163: 100/176=57%

Picks during UFC 163: 8/12

Pick totals: 108/188=57.5%

Award time!!!

UFC bonuses:

FOTN: McCall/Santos

SOTN: Moraes

KOOTN: Perosh

Brutal Sports Awards:

Beatdown of the Night: Leites

Sketchiest Decision of the Night: Davis/Machida

Upset of the Night: Perosh

The Cut List:

• Bristol Marunde
• Ednaldo Oliveira
• Josh Clopton
• Thiago Santos

Three Stars:

1. Jose Aldo
2. Ian McCall
3. Amanda Nunes