UFC Sao Paulo post-fight results and analysis

David Castillo has some sleep-deprived thoughts and analysis on UFC Fight Night 137.

UFN 137 was a quietly deep card (with lots of warts, granted), and if it wasn’t for the always-terrible pace of Fox Sports — I might be recalling a card that was full of exciting moments and fun finishes much more fondly.

As is, I still am. It’s just difficult to analyze a card when my memory bank sees more cheap aftershave commercials than footage of cagefighters (not to mention random feeds from other sports interrupting the telecast; which happened twice). Nonetheless, the main event operated exactly as advertised, with Santos scoring a brutal TKO victory despite the stoppage happening in-between rounds.

Eryk Anders took a measured approach to begin the fight. Instead of slugging it out, he tried taking the fight to the ground. Santos countered with a beautiful whizzer early on, and kept Anders off him in general. When Santos wasn’t defending well, he’d pop right back up. The two exchanged heavy leather in round two. Santos got the better of the exchanges, and scored a series of heavy body kicks that would clearly take its toll later on.

Anders looked like he was gaining ground in round three. Then both men left Earth. Lobbing bomb after bomb at each other. Anders secured a takedown, but took brutal elbows to the side of the head in the process. As the round closed, Anders could barely stand. Eventually he collapsed twice trying to get back. It was — frankly — a pretty scary moment. Anders wasn’t just exhausted. His body was flat out giving out on him. Referee Marc Goddard thankfully isn’t as bloodthirsty as other refs (cough, Yamasaki?), and called the bout.

• It’s still hard to figure out where Santos fits into the division. If he polished his game more, I could see him making more waves. As is, his kitchen sink method of exacting violence will work on most nights, but not others. Tonight, it worked. Santos gets away with his fight version of the hockey no-look pass by throwing heaters to the body. If ever takes his game to the next level, it will be because of his work to the guts. And his heart.
• Alex Oliveira separated Carlo Pedersoli from waking life just 39 seconds into the fight. We didn’t learn anything we didn’t already know. Oliveira loves wearing cowboy hats, and throwing bolos. Pedersoli, who has cut his teeth on the international circuit, found out the latter the hard, hammerfist way. It was an emotional win as well.
• I didn’t expect much from Sam Alvey vs. Lil Nog. The first round was exactly what I feared: a journeyman fighting an aging veteran. On a main card that boasts the greatest fighters on the planet, the first round wasn’t exactly a ringing endorsement. Then this happened:

• Credit to Nog, who at 42, still has a mind for boxing. Of course, that doesn’t mean I want to see him keep fighting. His post-fight interview was “my body’s broken, but are you not entertained?!” more or less.
• Renan Barao got caught early after ostensibly hurting Andre Ewell to the body. Barao dominated the ground portion, and Ewell found himself back into the fight after getting saved by the first round bell. Ewell has some real good reaction combinations — and a good lead straight left. It kept Barao from staying active, who was already waning something fierce by the middle of the bout. Ewell scored a well-earned (though somewhat perfunctory) decision win. As for Barao, he’s probably closer to retirement than Nog.
• Randa Markos fought a pretty (and ugly) Randa Markos fight. Her raw skills and intuition always stand out in any bout, and that was the case but her lack of power/finishing qualities turned a one-sided fight into a slow burn war of attrition. Marina Rodriguez got back into the fight in the second round once Markos tried to stand, and ate elbows and hooks for her troubles. The end result was a draw thanks to some bad decision making and lack of power. I didn’t mind the draw. The third round was the decider, and neither fighter took over.
• Christos Giagos had the advantage with his standup but Charles Oliviera turned a well timed takedown into a slick rear naked choke in the second round to earn the unique distinction of most submission wins in the octagon. I keep forgetting he’s only 28, but then I remember that the UFC threw him to the wolves when he got his driver’s license.
• Evan Dunham did not look a fighter ready to call it “quits.” Francisco Trinaldo and Dunham engaged in a very spirited back and forth. There wasn’t a whole lot of rhythm. But both were looking to finish. It was Trinaldo who absolutely STUCK Dunham with a counter knee to the liver that ended the bout in round two. I think I’ve seen that same finish before.
• Ryan Spann looked like the superior fighter in the first second, and that second extended into the first round, pumping a piercing jab, and chambering a right hand he used to distance himself extremely well. Then he used the rest of the fight to win with survival jiu jitsu. Henrique got Spann into tough positions, but Spann did a good job of grappling desperately to end up in sometimes superior positions. It wasn’t a great fight, but a well earned decision win for the Contender-turned-UFC fighter.
• Augusto Sakai was able to blitz Chase Sherman for a sustained attack that turned into a horror show that Sherman was inexplicably able to survive (for 14 minutes). And that was despite breaking his hand in the first round.
• Who cuts these promos? The Fight Pass promo talked up Anders as a “former football player who makes a living off YOUR demise.” This is the kind of writing I’d expect to see in one of Seagal’s hacky late-career movies.
• Sergio Moraes pulled off something impressive: being the only fighter to submit Ben Saunders. He’s been a staple in the UFC for a while, displaying excellent movement on the ground to secure an arm-triangle he considers good enough to fight Demian Maia. Yea, I’d watch that.
• The undercard had a lot of great action (and one bummer: so long, Hector Lombard), but the one that stood out the most was Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos’ flying knee.