I can’t remember a time when an upcoming UFC pay-per-view had as little buzz going for it as Saturday’s UFC 163 fight card.
I get it. I can’t blame you for being underwhelmed by the UFC’s latest return trip to Brazil. Even on the pay-per-view portion of the card, it’s long on unknown fighters and short on the kind of superstars who intrigue us enough to open our wallets and give Zuffa our money.
It wasn’t intended to be this way, of course. Consider this:
The main event was Jose Aldo vs. Anthony Pettis. This was my most-anticipated fight of the summer when it was announced. But then Pettis suffered a horrific injury that prevented him from fighting Aldo, but still allowed him to return just a few weeks later to fight Benson Henderson and help save the UFC’s Harley-Davidson-sponsored event in Pettis‘ hometown of Milwaukee.
Josh Koscheck and Demian Maia were going to have a fight, but it was nixed when Koscheck was injured while training. The curious thing is why the fight was booked in the first place. I have no answer for you. Koscheck was on a two-fight losing streak, while Maia was on the opposite end of the spectrum with a winning streak.
Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion Robert Drysdale was scheduled to make his UFC debut. But then Drysdale got in a fight with staph and lost.
The point of all this is that I wouldn’t blame you if you took a pass on this one and went to the bar with your friends instead of staying at home in front of your television. I’ll always relish the opportunity to see Aldo fight—l’d probably pay $60 to see him fight a cardboard box.
But at the same time, this one is inherently skippable. That doesn’t mean we’re not gonna take our customary look at the card and make some predictions, though. Let’s get started.