UFC 163 featured a featherweight championship fight between Jose “Junior” Aldo and Chan-Sung “The Korean Zombie” Jung, and many other marquee bouts, but there were several distinct moments that made this event exciting.
While Saturday’s pay-per-view wasn’t as spectacular as many MMA fans were hoping, all of the following moments still made this an exciting fight night.
Anthony Perosh’s Knockout Victory
There are many UFC fans who missed the Anthony Perosh-Vinny Magalhaes fight because it was relegated to the FX preliminary card, but after a 14-second knockout, even some of the fans watching likely missed it.
There were questions about whether Perosh—a 41-year-old MMA veteran—had enough left in the tank to withstand fighting again, but a devastating knockout win proved all the doubters wrong.
Magalhaes was heralded as one of the top stars in the sport when the UFC signed him in 2012, but after another tough loss, the gamble hasn’t paid off. As exciting as the KO was, the future is now very uncertain for Magalhaes.
The Decision Between Phil Davis and Lyoto Machida
The battle between Phil Davis and Lyoto Machida was as uneventful as predicted—Machida’s elusive style was on full display—but the unanimous-decision victory for Davis was a complete shock to most fans and experts around the sport.
Davis had the takedown abilities that stifled his challenger at times, but Machida had no problem countering many of his shoot attempts while mixing in knees, punches and kicks that landed effectively, as shown by FightMetrics.
The two successful takedowns from Davis appeared to be enough to sway the judges, but with Machida in his home country of Brazil and using his normal evasive style to perfection, this was the wrong decision.
Ian McCall’s Decision Victory
Call it bias, but watching Ian “Uncle Creepy” McCall win on Saturday night was one of the most exciting moments of UFC 163.
After overcoming a tumultuous personal life and a horrible start to his UFC career (0-2-1), McCall was finally able to snag the much-needed victory to get himself and his career back on the right track.
While beating a journeyman like Iliarde Santos is not the greatest victory, the fan favorite is getting his life together, and this is a great start. With a focus on MMA and reaching the level most believe he still can, Uncle Creepy’s rise to the top has begun once again.
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