Coming into UFC Fight Night 36, most fans of the UFC knew the name Lyoto Machida very well, yet few knew much about his opponent, Gegard Mousasi.
For those who did, this had the potential to be a terribly exciting bout that would answer many questions about both fighters. It was a clash of intelligent styles that pitted two very diverse fighters against each other in a five-round tilt in the middleweight division.
If that was not enough, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza was pitted against Francis Carmont. Souza was coming off a TKO victory over Yushin Okami at UFC Fight Night 28. Souza brought his five-fight winning streak into the Octagon to the end of making a serious statement for title contention against the always-tough Carmont, who had an 11-fight win streak himself.
These two contests alone had the potential to add clarity to the middleweight division; should Machida and Souza win as expected, both fighters would be near the front of the line for a shot at Chris Weidman’s belt.
And if either one of them lost, it would prove that the division is far deeper than most expected.
Before the headlining and co-headlining bouts took place, the fans would get to see two welterweight bouts, pitting the dangerous Erick Silva against Takenori Sato and Viscardi Andrade against Nicholas Musoke.
Finally, a featherweight fight would get the main card started with Charles Oliveira slugging it out with Andy Ogle.
With such names as Maximo Blanco, Yuri Alcantara, Rodrigo Damm and Cristiano Marcello filling out the undercard, UFC Fight Night 36 had all the makings of an entertaining evening of fights in Jaragua do Sul, Brazil. And if that wasn’t enough, the event marked the first-ever implementation of the UFC’s new bonus plan that will see the knockout and submission bonuses replaced with Performance of the Night bonuses for two fighters.
Now that the fights are over and the results are tallied, we can look upon the event as a whole, the good and the bad.
Here are the real winners and losers from UFC Fight Night 36: Machida vs. Mousasi.