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UFC 163: Aldo vs. Korean Zombie — Live Results & Commentary

(Zombies don’t make eye-contact. It’s, like, way too intimate. / Photo via MMAFighting.com)

Tonight, UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo returns to his homeland to take on South Korean crowd-pleaser Chan Sung Jung — a name that has become synonymous with fast-paced brawls and insane finishes. Will Aldo end the night embraced in the sweaty arms of his countrymen, or will the Korean Zombie put a gruesome end to the champ’s 15-fight win streak?

Also on the UFC 163 lineup: Phil Davis has the honor of being the only American on the pay-per-view card as he tries to put his hands on Lyoto Machida, and former UFC middleweight title contender Thales Leites returns from four years in exile in a fight against British banger Tom Watson. Plus, Cezar Ferreira and John Lineker gobble up some fresh meat.

CagePotato liveblogger supreme Anthony Gannon will be firing off round-by-round results from the “Aldo vs. Korean Zombie” main card after the jump, beginning at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest, and please drop your own thoughts in the comments section.

(Zombies don’t make eye-contact. It’s, like, way too intimate. / Photo via MMAFighting.com)

UFC 163 Preliminary Card Results
– Anthony Perosh def. Vinny Magalahes via KO, 0:14 of round 1
– Amanda Nunes def. Sheila Gaff via TKO (elbows), 2:08 of round 1
– Sergio Moraes def. Neil Magny via submission (triangle choke), 3:13 of round 1
– Ian McCall def. Iliarde Santos via unanimous decision (30-27 x 2, 29-28)
– Rani Yahya def. Josh Clopton via unanimous decision (29-28 x 3)
– Francimar Barroso def. Ednaldo Oliveira via unanimous decision (30-27 x 2, 29-28)
– Viscardi Andrade def. Bristol Marunde via TKO, 1:36 of round 1

Greetings, Potato Nation, and welcome to the latest installment of Brazil vs The World. And I’m telling you right now, the Brazilians are kicking the shit out of the world. Since the UFCs glorious return to the land of terrifying ass-kickers, the figures are grim. In fights where a Brazilian fought a foreigner, it’s 33-8 in favor of the home team (not counting UFC 147 seeing as it served as the TUF: Brazil Finale), or about 80%. Now, some of you more cynical bastards have accused the UFC of building mismatched cards to appeal to the fierce nationalism of the Brazilian people. It’s simple logic, really – when Brazilians win their fans go batshit insane. They fall in love with the UFC and become loyal fans with octagon patios like this brilliant psycho.

It’s not an argument without merit. The UFC has made no secret of its uncut hard-on for Brazil. It’s an emerging economy with an expanding middle class that has a few extra ducats to piss away on entertainment. So long as the cards are packed with local talent and they continue to get the better of the world – or as in the case of the Nog/Werdum Fuel event, produce eight freakin’ submission wins – then the sport will continue to grow in Brazil. Certainly nothing wrong with stacking the deck a little.

Okay, now that the divisive hyperbole is out of the way, who’s excited to pay $55 for this one fight card? Anyone? Bueller? Just don’t be judging these fights before they happen, a’ight. Dana White hates that shit, and thinks you’re fucking stupid for it. Never mind that making judgments is how consumers base their decisions on whether or not to purchase products. That’s just an irrelevant detail. If you’re a fight fan, how can you not want to watch Jose Aldo? It matters not that the co-main event is the antithesis of a barn-burner (an ineffective shit-house air freshener, perhaps?), and the rest of the supporting cast is – how do I put this delicately – unknown. But oh, Thales Leites is making his return. So there’s that.

It’s important to realize it’s not about how good the fights turn out to be. This may very well end up being a phenomenal event. But if no one buys the PPV then it doesn’t really matter much. I know the $54 ribeye at The Borgata is heaven on a plate, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to buy it every time I’m there. Because once you account for the bullshit a la carte $16 potato and $23 creamed spinach, your dinner runs north of $100. Maybe I’m in the mood to enrich the casino owners instead, or the independent businesswomen who exercise the ultimate form of supply and demand. Those are the basic choices we make in the world of commerce.

Here we go. The recently retired Brian Stann is filling for Joe Rogan tonight while Joe is off questioning some shit.

John Lineker and Jose Maria Tome

Lineker is a highly touted flyweight prospect. But he has problems making weight. Last night he missed the 126 lb limit by a very substantial three pounds. He also missed weight in his lone UFC loss to Louis Gaudinot, for whatever that’s worth. Lineker opted to pay the 20% fine on his purse rather than desiccate himself in the sauna in a futile attempt to make the weight. Wise choice.

Aside from just a serious record of 33-3, not much is known about Maria. He’s rockin’ an orange Mohawk, and comes in to some bad club music. Let’s see what he’s got.

Round 1: Maria opens with a lot of movement. Lineker goes for an overhand right to start off. Inside leg kick by Maria skims the pills. Lineker is okay. He blasts Maria with a huge overhand right, drops Maria, but he’s up. Maria shoots, kind of a half ass attempt, comes nowhere close. Oh, Marai with a nice spinning backfist, and he’s stumbling, Maria lands another few nice shots. Lineker is wobbly. Maria is letting him off the hook. Lineker kicks to the body, Maria takes him down, moves to half guard. Lineker is up. Now they’re clinched, and Maria knees Lineker in the nuts. The ref stops it, but the tape shows it going to the stomach. Here we go again. Maria throws a spinning back kick, it’s blocked. He shoots on lineker, it’s stuffed. The trade knees in the clinch. Overhand right by Lineker. Maria gets taken down to end the round. 10-9 Maria

Round 2: High kick by Maria, blocked. Lineker with a knee to the body. Maria shoots, misses. They’re up. Linekr lands a big shot that rocks Maria, he’s down and Lineker is pounding away. And it’s over. The ref steps in and calls it. It was a buckled knee, it appears, that dropped Maria, and Lineker swarmed.

Lineker wins via TKO at 1:03 of round 2.

Thales Leites vs Tom Watson is up

Unless you follow the local Brazilian and Swedish MMA circuits you probably haven’t seen Leites in a quite a while. He was cut by the UFC in 2009 following back-to-back losses to Anderson Silva and Alessio Sakara. Much like the horrible lays of your life, it’s impossible to forget a really bad fight, and both of those fights were pretty disgusting. The horribleness of the Silva fight is well documented, but the Sakara fight was pretty awful too. It was so bad actually that the judges gave Sakara a decision that by normal MMA judging standards he shouldn’t have gotten – because, presumably, they blamed Leites for the visual carnage that is seared into our souls like a vicious case of the crabs.

That being said, Leites is 6-1 since then, with four submission wins. And, ya know, the past being the past and all that jazz, the man deserves another shot.

Watson is 1-1 in the UFC, and in his last fight against Stanislav Nedkov, he won both the Fight and Knockout of the Night bonuses to put a cool 100 large in his pocket. And aint shit bad about that.

The only way to scientifically break down this fight: The Mongo factor.

Both of these guys have fought Jesse “Mongo” Taylor, and much like the statistical methodology of having a Wikipedia page, the Mongo factor is infallible. Both fights took place under the MFC banner in 2010, in Alberta, Canada. Watson lost by unanimous decision, Leites won by first round triangle choke. By the power of MMA math that means that Leites should win by flying armbar in the second round as Mongo jerks off in the ballroom to nude photos of Miss Scarlett with a rope around his neck like David Carradine.

See how that works, simple mathematics.

Watson rolls out to The Backstreet Boys wearing a gorilla mask.

Round 1: Leiteds wants to touch, Watson is having none of it. Leites rushes forward with a combo, initiates the clinch. He’s working for Watson’s back, and drags him to the mat. He’s got a hook in, working for the second. He’s got it. Ah shit. Leites looking to lock Watson’s arm down and choke him. Watson defending well. Lot of time left though. Leites has that arm trapped. He’s bashing Watson in the side of the head too. Sucky position for Watson. He’s got his arm free, and they’re battling for wrist control. Nice shots from the back from Leites, good power generated from that position. Watson tries to explode to his feet, aint happening. Leites is glued to his back. Now he’s on top, and Watson escapes, delivers a knee in the clinch. They trade leg kicks. Watson with another. And another. And again. Left hook by Watson, answered by Leites. Head kick by Watson as the round ends. 10-9 Leites

Round 2: Watson opens with a leg kick. Leites punches into the clinch, can’t tie him up. Watson grabs Leites’ neck, and Leites takes him down. He’s in half guard delivering some short shots from the top. Leites is looking for an arm triangle, Watson escapes. Watson gets up, Leites takes him down again. He’s got Watson’s back with hooks in again. Leites is high on Watson’s back, now working for an arm. He’s got it, but Watson is defending well, has Leites stacked up against the cage. Watson is free, and they’re up. Leites with a nice jab, Watson answers with a couple knees. They trade jabs, and Watson’s has more pop on it. They clinch, and Leites with a knee. And another. Watson lands a left hook, Leites responds with a decent combination. Watson lands a knee and an elbow. Close round. 10-9 Leites

Round 3: Leites lands a big left, and Watson’s eye is a bloody mess. Leites clinches, and his back is covered with blood. Leites going for a takedown, not happening. But he’s controlling the fight by pushing Watson up against the cage. Leites has Watson’s back again, looking to take this down. Watson is free, and lands a good elbow. Leites lands a jab, then sticks a takedown. Leites is mounted. Watson rolls to his side, Leites taks his back. Watson stands up, gets dragged back down. Leites with back control again, delivering some punishment to the side of the head. Leites looking for the arm triangle, he’s just got to jump to side control. Watson is a hard dude to choke. Leites can’t get it, but dominates the round. That’s that.

The official decision is in, and it’s Thales Leites by unanimous decision, 30-27 across the board.

Sergio Moraes and Neil Magny are on from the undercard. I aint calling this shit, we already told you what happened.

Cezar Ferreira vs Thiago Santos is next up.

Cezar is the middleweight TUF: Brazil winner. He hasn’t fought in over a year due to injuries, and the only thing I remember about him is that he throws a shitload of kicks.

Santos is a natural welterweight making his UFC debut at middleweight. He sports a 8-1 record with five finishes, but he doesn’t have a Wikipedia page, which means there’s no way in hell he can win this fight. However, Cezar is a Blackzillian, which evens the odds considerably.

And there’s always someone. Santos comes out to the Rocky theme.

Vitor Belfort smacks the hell out of Cezar to fire him up.

Round 1: Cezar opens with a low kick, misses. Cezar lands a good shot, then goes to the body. Santos is hurt, and Cezar gets the guillotine. Wow, very quick and impressive.

It was a huge left that rocked Santos, Cezar saw it and locked on the choke.

Cezar Ferreira gets the sweet submission at only the 0:47 mark of the first round.

Amanda Nunes and Sheila Gaff get some PPV time.

Lyoto Machida and Phil Davis are up.

If Rogan were around for this event, he would surely describe this as an “interesting fight.” That’s kind of what you say when you’re not quite certain how to sell it. You can’t rightly say,” Hmm, Davis has about a 1% chance to win this thing, and oh yeah, there’s like a 98% chance it’s going to be a suck-ass fight.” So, “interesting” it is.

The two pertinent questions: Can Davis take Machida down? And with two promised title shots already yanked out from underneath him, will Lyoto stick to his tried-and-true formula of waiting until the final round to actually get his piss-drinking ass into the fight?

On the first question, it’s doubtful. Machida had ridiculous takedown defense. Sure, Davis is a great wrestler, and even though Machida is a BJJ blackbelt, I believe Davis is the better all-around grappler. But I cannot see him penetrating Machida’s base consistently enough to earn a victory in that manner.

As for the second question, who the hell knows. When Machida’s aggressive, he’s downright nasty. But he’s rarely aggressive. He should take this fight regardless, but to make a compelling case for another shot at Jon Jones he needs to have like another Rashad type win.

Davis rocking his customary hot pink tights, young as hell too.

Machida had the crowd fired up by coming out to a song everyone seems to know. Must be like the Brazilian version of “Sweet Caroline.”

Round 1: Davis kicks to the body to start things off. Tries again, Machida avoids. Davis goes with the low kick, Machida responds with one of his own. Machida drops his hands, perhaps goading Davis into a stand up exchange. Davis checks a leg kick, goes for the Superman punch, misses. Machida with a front kick to the body, skims Davis. Machida with a high kick, Davis blocks. Machida lands a straight left. Front kick to Davis’ body again. Davis kicks to the body. Machida exploded with a nice combination, ends it with a knee. Davis shoots, sticks a takedown. He’s in side control, and if he can do some damage he can steal this round. Machida gets him to half guard, and the round ends with a few shots to the body. He didn’t do enough to win the round. 10-9 Machida

Round 2: They trade front kicks. Machida kicks to the body, Davis blocks. Machida goes high this time, it’s deflected but still looks like it stung. Davis with the head kick, Machida backs away. Superman punch by Davis, lands on Machida’s chest. Davis clinches, Machida shrugs him off. Machida with a hook, Davis misses a wild overhand right. Davis lands an overhand right. Machida kicks the body. Low kick by Machida. Davis shoots, Machida defends. He shoots again, stuffed again. Front kick misses by Davis. Machida with a straight left. Then a nice right, but Davis scores a takedown. A couple knees to the body. Not much damage, but closer round. 10-9 Machida

Round 3: Davis misses a right to starts off the round. Davis with a kick, Machida with a jab. Two Superman punches by Davis, misses badly on both. Machida blocks a front kick. Davis being more aggressive this round. A shot by Davis I shrugged off. Front kick lands by Machida. Knee to the body by Machida, he ends up on top. Davis stands up with Machida on his back, escapes. Good kick by Davis, Machida responds with a big right. Davis is shrugged off yet again. Machida tries for a knee on the separation, misses. Machida lands a straight right, Davis answers with a nice kick to the body. Davis clinches, shoots, can’t stick the takedown. Machida lands a right to the grill, then a low kick. Davis shoots again, misses. Machida didn’t do much, but he did enough. Machida 10-9.

The decision is in, and it’s 29-28 across the board for Phil Davis. Wow.

The fans are not happy. It wasn’t a terrible decision. Shit, Machida just doesn’t do much.

The main event is next, Jose Aldo vs Chan Sung Jung

The Korean Zombie is on a roll. He’s finished his last three opponents, picked up four fight night bonuses in that time, and won himself a legion of fans in the process. But, he’s facing one of the Top 3 nastiest fighters in the world. Jose Aldo is just operating on a different level than anyone else at 145. A perfectly placed shot to the mandible can end anyone’s night, but unfortunately for the Zombie that’s probably not how this will play out. More than likely this will end in a loss and an unimaginable amount of pain in the legs tomorrow morning.

But ya gotta give the Zombie credit for one thing, he sure can talk some shit. His quote from the weigh-ins, “People may think Aldo is the favorite, but I think differently.” Damn, he went there.

Zombie comes out to “Zombie” from the Cranberries. Makes sense.

Some dickhole steals Aldo’s hat on his way to the cage. The champion looks focused and terrifying.

Round 1: Herb Dean is in charge, and the shit is on. Jung throws the first leg kick, misses. Aldo misses a jab. Jung charges forward, misses. Also lands an overhand right. Then a jab to the chest. Jung with a left to the dome. Aldo sticks a jab, misses the following right. Jung with a high kick, too high, goes right over Aldo’s head. Aldo with a leg kick, skims. Aldo with a left hook, finishes with a leg kick. Jung with a low kick of his own. Jung comes up short on a jab. Jung fakes a takedown, comes over the top with a right. Aldo takes Jung down, but he spring right back up in the scramble. Damn, spinning wheel kick from Aldo to end the round. Close round. 10-9 Aldo

Round 2: Jung is stalking Aldo, moving forward. Lands a front kick. Jung charges in, Aldo lands two shots to the chops. The champ misses an uppercut, sticks a jab. Jung hooks, Aldo ducks and lands a couple to the body. Goes to the body again, then a hook to the face. Aldo sticks another stiff jab. Jung with a kick to the thigh, then misses an overhand. Another jab from Aldo. Jung ducks under an overhand right. Another jab by Aldo, stuns Jung. Oh, and jung lands a nice overhand right that knocks the champ back. Aldo shoots and takes Jung down. He’s in side control. Jung gets to half guard, now full guard. The round ends with no damage from the top. 10-9 Aldo

Round 3: Left hook by Aldo. Jung jumps in with a knee, Aldo catches Jung and slams his ass down. Jung trying to wall walk back to his feet, Aldo keeping him in place. Jung with a few shots to the ear, and he’s up. Aldo has him against the cage, looking for another takedown. Gets it, but Jung is back to his knees, working to get back up. Aldo working really hard for these takedowns. They’re stalled, and Herb stands them up. Oof, Jung with a nice combination. Aldo going for another takedown. Jung defending very well. Jung tries to lock on a choke, can’t get under the chin. Jung with some decent elbows to the temple. Aldo is glued to him here. Herb separates them again. Flying knee again from Jung, misses, they both go down. Not sure how to score that one. I’ll guess 10-9 Aldo

Round 4: Jab from Jung. Aldo answers in kind. Aldo misses a big hook. Jung lands a left, misses a right. Three kicks in a row to the shoulder from Aldo, and it appears that Jung’s shoulder separated. Yuck. Aldo takes him down, gets the finish, and Jung is lying there in agony. His shoulder is fucked.

The replay shows the separation, and it’s pretty nasty. Aldo saw it and commenced to kick the shit out of it. That was gnarly.

The official decision is a TKO at 2:00 of round 4 for Jose Aldo. That’s that. I got to roll. Been holding in a deuce since Leites/Watson. Thanks for chillin’, we’ll be back tomorrow to analyze this shit.

Five Hidden Storylines For UFC 163: Aldo vs. Korean Zombie

By Adam Martin

There doesn’t seem to be much buzz about UFC 163, but when you look at it deeper, it’s actually a fairly intriguing card with a number of hidden storylines buried amidst all the injuries and lineup–changes. Here are five reasons why what happens at UFC 163 actually matters.

Aldo vs. Jung: A Fight That May Change The Face Of Not One, But Two Divisions

Not many people are talking about this, but UFC 163’s main event featherweight title fight between champion Jose Aldo and challenger Chan Sung Jung is one of the rare fights that could have an immediate impact on multiple weight classes.

If Aldo wins, he’ll be on a 16-fight win streak, and it’s quite possible that he’ll make the decision to move up to 155 pounds, something that he has hinted at doing for a long time. Now 26 years old, Aldo is finding it harder to make the weight cut down to 145 pounds, and if he can beat Jung in spectacular fashion this weekend, he might tell the UFC he wants to make a run at lightweight.

If he does go to 155, expect Aldo to receive an immediate title shot, which would mean TJ Grant would be out on the sidelines yet again as Aldo would most certainly face the winner of the UFC 164 main event between Benson Henderson and Anthony Pettis later this month.

Of course, it’s possible that Aldo stays at 145 and keeps defending his belt against new challengers such as Ricardo Lamas, but I honestly think a move to 155 isn’t as far away as some think it is.

And if Jung shocks the world this weekend and becomes the man to end Aldo’s streak? Well, Aldo could still move up to 155, or he could stay at 145 and possibly get an immediate rematch since he’s been such a dominant champ at the weight. It’s really his call.

At the end of the day Aldo is going to have some big decisions to make after UFC 163, and they’re decisions that the whole MMA world is going to be interested in. Now, let’s wait and see what happens.

Does The Machida vs. Davis Winner Earn A Title Shot?

By Adam Martin

Aldo vs. Jung: A Fight That May Change The Face Of Not One, But Two Divisions

Does The Machida vs. Davis Winner Earn A Title Shot?

Following his knockout of Ryan Bader at UFC on FOX 4, UFC president Dana White told Lyoto Machida that he would be getting the next light-heavyweight title shot because he had “the most impressive win” of any light heavyweight contender on that card.

But after after the debacle that was UFC 151, Machida ended up having to fight Dan Henderson to re-affirm his spot as the No. 1 contender at 205 pounds, and he did so with a split decision win at UFC 157, a win that White said would earn Machida his title shot.

However, the fans responded negatively to the fight with Henderson, and UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones said he wasn’t interested in fighting Machida so soon after he already choked him unconscious at UFC 140. And so, Alexander Gustafsson instead got the next 205-pound title shot, and now once again Machida will have to earn another win — this time against Phil Davis — to stay in the title talks.

If he can KO Davis in impressive fashion at UFC 163, expect Machida to fight the winner of Jones vs. Gustafsson — unless it’s another boring fight, in which case the UFC will likely pass him over yet again. So it’s really up to Machida how he wants to approach things.

As for Davis, he’s never fought Jones yet so a finish of Machida this weekend could do wonders for his career and get him to that title fight with Jones he so dearly craves. But again, he can’t just eke out a decision over Machida; he has to get the stoppage, because that’s what the fans want to see from someone who is supposedly going to challenge Jones.

The UFC hasn’t guaranteed either man a title shot with a win on Saturday night, which means both guys don’t have as much pressure on them as they normally do, but make no mistake about it, this is a huge fight in the light-heavyweight division and the winner may very well be fighting for the world championship before the end of the year.

The Return of Cezar ‘Mutante’ Ferreira

Coming back from an injury layoff that has lasted over an entire year, Cezar Mutante returns to action this weekend in a main card matchup against Thiago Santos at UFC 163.

Mutante hasn’t competed since UFC 147 in June of 2012, when he defeated Sergio Moraes to win the TUF Brazil 1 middleweight bracket. One of the stronger fighters in the division, Mutante is a protégé of Vitor Belfort and the UFC has high hopes for this guy, which is why he’s getting a main card slot despite his unseasoned record and the fact he hasn’t fought in forever.

I do believe Mutante has some potential because of his well-rounded game, but I’m just not sure how far he can actually go — although his ceiling is high if his chin holds up against the big boys of 185. Still, he really should roll against Santos, who took this fight on short notice and is a natural welterweight. And if Mutante can get a highlight-reel win, expect the UFC propaganda machine to really start cranking on this guy, because he definitely has the look and the skills to be sold as a future champion down in Brazil, even if many observers of the sport believe he’s been overrated by the promotion.

Is John Lineker The Next Great Flyweight?

Although the flyweights aren’t known for their knockout power, one fighter who does possess the ability to lay out his opponents at 125 pounds is John Lineker, who takes on Jose Tome in the opening fight of the UFC 163 pay-per-view.

Lineker is a 5’2″ beast, and he showed just how devastating his striking is in his last fight against Azamat Gashimov at UFC on FX 8, a fight that he won via brutal TKO in the second round, a victory which moved him to 2-1 overall inside the Octagon.

Since the flyweight division is so shallow, a win over Tome this weekend would up Lineker’s record to 3-1 and he could very well jump into the #1 contender spot at 125 pounds even though he lost to Louis Gaudinot at UFC on FOX 3 just last year.

But many people have already forgotten about that loss, and if Lineker knocks out Tome, even more are going to forget about it because the UFC is likely going to grant him a title shot at UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson.

The pressure is on, and we’re about to see how Lineker handles it.

The Fall of Ian McCall

With a 0-2-1 record inside the UFC, flyweight Ian McCall has his back up against the wall this weekend and he’s no doubt going to need a victory over Iliarde Santos on the UFC 163 preliminary card if he not only wants to remain a title contender at 125 pounds, but also keep his job in the UFC.

This is a fight that McCall really should win — a fact he’s quite aware of — and although the theme of UFC 163 is mismatches between foreigners and Brazilians, McCall is one of the rare Americans who is considered the favorite, because, honestly, he’s light years ahead of Santos in term of talent and skill.

The problem with “Uncle Creepy,” though, is that he can get mentally unfocused at times. He’s acknowledged that himself, and blamed it for his loss to Demetrious Johnson at UFC on FX 3, a loss that cost him the chance to fight for the first-ever UFC flyweight title.

But in a shallow weight division (and with a brilliant moustache that makes him automatically marketable) McCall isn’t that far away from a trilogy match with “Mighty Mouse,” and if he gets by Santos this weekend, he could actually get that fight sometime soon.

If he loses, though, he could be given his walking papers. It’s crazy that there’s a sport like MMA where one win or loss could either garner you a shot at the title or lead to the loss of your job, but it is what it is, and that’s why I expect the best McCall we’ve ever seen this weekend to show up and do business. Because if he doesn’t, the fall of Ian McCall is going to be talked about by the hardcore fans on message boards for months and months to come, because this was the guy who was the #1 seed in the flyweight tournament just over a year ago.

Is there anything else on the UFC 163 card that has you interested — or at least slightly curious? Let us know in the comments section, and be sure to come back to CagePotato.com tomorrow night at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT for our liveblog of the PPV main card.

Cursewatch: UFC 163 Loses Two More Fighters to Injury/Fear of Brazilians

(Clint Hester sends Bristol Marunde into a graveyard spiral at the TUF 17 Finale. Photo by Esther Lin for MMAFighting)

Ladies and gents, we got ourselves a curse goin’. After losing three notable American fighters due to injury — Anthony Pettis, Josh Koscheck, and Robert Drysdale — we have even more UFC 163: Aldo vs. Zombie withdrawals to report today. Also falling off the August 3rd card in Rio are…

– TUF 17 castmember Clint “Headbussa” Hester, the Georgia-bred middleweight who was supposed to face TUF: Brazil winner Cezar “Mutante” Ferreira. Hester has pulled out of the main card bout due to injury, and Ferreira will now face 8-1 newcomer Thiago “Marreta” Santos.

– British flyweight Phil “Billy” Harris is also out of his scheduled main card bout (for undisclosed reasons) against Brazilian contender John Lineker, who will now be facing 33-3 veteran Jose Maria Tome.

Is it a coincidence that four Americans and one Brit have all pulled out of scheduled matchups against Brazilian fighters on this card? Yes. Do Brazilian UFC fighters have a notoriously high win-percentage while fighting at home? Sure. Should we file this under #boringconspiracies? Why the hell not.

The current UFC 163 lineup is after the jump. You know it’s a bad-sign when a barnraiser like Machida vs. Davis is by far the second-most-interesting match on this card…

(Clint Hester sends Bristol Marunde into a graveyard spiral at the TUF 17 Finale. Photo by Esther Lin for MMAFighting)

The current UFC 163 lineup is after the jump. You know it’s a bad-sign when a barnraiser like Machida vs. Davis is by far the second-most-interesting match on this card…

MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT)
Jose Aldo vs. Chan Sung Jung
Phil Davis vs. Lyoto Machida
Cezar Ferreira vs. Thiago Santos
Thales Leites vs. Tom Watson
John Lineker vs. Jose Maria Tome

PRELIMINARY CARD (FX, 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT)
Vinny Magalhaes vs. Anthony Perosh
Sheila Gaff vs. Amanda Nunes
Neil Magny vs. Sergio Moraes
Ian McCall vs. Iliarde Santos

PRELIMINARY CARD (Facebook, 6:30 p.m. ET / 3:30 p.m. PT)
Josh Clopton vs. Rani Yahya
Francimar Barroso vs. Ednaldo Oliveira
Viscardi Andrade vs. Bristol Marunde

UFC Begins to Transplant Canceled UFC 151 Bouts. Spoiler Alert: None End Up On PPV.

Pictured: Their approximate reactions to finding out “garbage-ass” was a real phrase.

One week ago, Ben published an article voicing concerns over how weak UFC 151’s main card was. But it was cool, because Jon Jones vs. Dan Henderson was going to be such an awesome fight. Two days ago, Jones vs. Henderson was scrapped and UFC 151 was canceled. [Ed. note: Damn, two days? Feels like we’ve been covering this forever.] Even though most of us acknowledged that the cancellation of the event was at least partially due to the garbage-assness of pretty much the entire card, we were too busy talking about Jon Jones ducking Chael Sonnen/Sonnen attempting to troll his way into an immediate title shot (depending on which side of the fence you’re on) to really delve into the issue. But now that the UFC has started to transplant the canceled UFC 151 fights to other cards, it’s time to take a closer look at that issue for a moment.

The bouts from UFC 151 are quickly being rescheduled for different cards, with UFC on FX 5 taking a significant chunk of them. As we covered in yesterday’s link dump, UFC 151’s planned co-main event, Jake Ellenberger vs. Jay Hieron, will now be the co-main event of UFC On FX 5. This won’t be the only fight from UFC 151’s main card that will now be padding UFC on FX 5 – Dennis Hallman vs. Thiago Tavares, Danny Castillo vs. Michael Johnson and Shane Roller vs. Jacob Volkmann will be moved to this card as well. UFC on Fuel TV 6 will now be featuring fights between bantamweights Takeya Mizugaki and Jeff Hougland and flyweights John Lineker and Yasuhiro Urushitani, while Kyle Noke and Charlie Brenneman will do the man dance on the undercard of UFC 152.

In case you haven’t noticed, it’s worth mentioning that absolutely none of these fights – three of which were on the pay-per-view portion of UFC 151, mind you – have made it to the main card of an upcoming pay-per-view. Now I understand that financially, most fighters who were expecting a paycheck on September 1 simply can’t afford to wait until November’s UFC 154 to fight again. But that’s not the issue: The issue is that the UFC could afford to move pay-per-view quality fights *makes this hand gesture* to free television in the first place.

Pictured: Their approximate reactions to finding out “garbage-ass” was a real phrase.

One week ago, Ben published an article voicing concerns over how weak UFC 151′s main card was. But it was cool, because Jon Jones vs. Dan Henderson was going to be such an awesome fight. Two days ago, Jones vs. Henderson was scrapped and UFC 151 was canceled. [Ed. note: Damn, two days? Feels like we’ve been covering this forever.] Even though most of us acknowledged that the cancellation of the event was at least partially due to the garbage-assness of pretty much the entire card, we were too busy talking about Jon Jones ducking Chael Sonnen/Sonnen attempting to troll his way into an immediate title shot (depending on which side of the fence you’re on) to really delve into the issue. But now that the UFC has started to transplant the canceled UFC 151 fights to other cards, it’s time to take a closer look at that issue for a moment.

The bouts from UFC 151 are quickly being rescheduled for different cards, with UFC on FX 5 taking a significant chunk of them. As we covered in yesterday’s link dump, UFC 151′s planned co-main event, Jake Ellenberger vs. Jay Hieron, will now be the co-main event of UFC On FX 5. This won’t be the only fight from UFC 151′s main card that will now be padding UFC on FX 5 – Dennis Hallman vs. Thiago Tavares, Danny Castillo vs. Michael Johnson and Shane Roller vs. Jacob Volkmann will be moved to this card as well. UFC on Fuel TV 6 will now be featuring fights between bantamweights Takeya Mizugaki and Jeff Hougland and flyweights John Lineker and Yasuhiro Urushitani, while Kyle Noke and Charlie Brenneman will do the man dance on the undercard of UFC 152.

Dana White can point his fingers at Jon Jones and Greg Jackson and say “That’s the bad guy!” all he wants, but that certainly doesn’t make him the good guy in all of this. The fact that the UFC can give away bouts that they expected you to pay for without worrying about the revenue they’ll lose is essentially an admission that the bouts were never really worth your money in the first place. Essentially, it’s proof that, as we feared, over-saturation has reached its tipping point in the UFC and as a result, the main event of any given pay-per-view is the only fight worth paying for. Gone are the days when a fighter in the co-main event of a UFC pay-per-view was too big of a name for basic cable (Isn’t that right, Mike Russow?). It’s easy to make Jon Jones and Greg Jackson the scapegoats for the cancellation of UFC 151, but it’s nothing short of willful ignorance to continue to deny that over-saturation is a pandemic in the UFC.

With Jones vs. Belfort now headlining UFC 152 (151?), Dana White will more than likely use the “stacked” UFC 152 as “proof” that the UFC is still putting on stacked cards and that over-saturation is not an issue. On paper, he has a point; it’s hard to say that a card with two title fights isn’t a quality product. But let’s actually look at what we’re getting: A light-heavyweight title fight where the challenger earned the honor of fighting for a belt by simply being the first guy to say “Yeah, sure, I’ll do it,” a flyweight title fight that fans weren’t exactly excited for in the first place, and a middleweight scrap between two top-ten fighters who probably still won’t be getting a shot at Anderson Silva with a victory. Call me crazy, but I’m not seeing a stacked card here. I’m seeing a card that, up until Jon Jones was added on, was weaker than UFC 151.

I guess it would be pretty ironic of me to let the comments section fill up with complaints about how boxing died because champions were fighting unworthy challengers and the “one-fight cards” that ruined the sport. But to do that would be missing my own point, so instead I’ll propose a new rule: From now on, if you aren’t willing to complain with your wallet, you forfeit your right to complain with your keyboard. That should be enough to force the UFC to acknowledge over-saturation, and admission is the first step to recovery.

@SethFalvo

Gaudinot vs. Lineker Booked for UFC on FOX 3

Gaudinot vs. Lineker should provide a clear contender for the coveted ‘Worst Hair in Professional Sports’ title.

Presumably after enduring three rounds of fatigued middleweights Chris Weidman and Demian Maia leading off UFC on FOX 2, the UFC brass figured it would be a good idea to show off its smaller fighters to the casual fans. For the organization’s third effort on FOX, the UFC will showcase two of its smallest fighters on the roster. Yesterday, the UFC announced a matchup between flyweights Louis Gaudinot and John Lineker has been booked for UFC on FOX 3.

As a bantamweight cast member of TUF 14, Louis Gaudinot lost to Dustin Pague in the fan voted “Fight of the Season” before losing his UFC debut to the much larger Johnny Bedford. As expected, Gaudinot is returning to flyweight, where he went 5-1 before his UFC career.

Gaudinot vs. Lineker should provide a clear contender for the coveted ‘Worst Hair in Professional Sports’ title.

Meanwhile, Brazilian native John Lineker will be making his UFC debut at UFC on FOX 3. Lineker is 19-5 in his MMA career, and is currently riding a thirteen fight winning streak into the Octagon. His most recent fight saw him earn a split decision over Iliarde Sabino Belo dos Santos at Jungle Fight 32 on September 10 of last year.

UFC on FOX 3 is set to go down at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey on May 5, 2012.

MMA Top 10 Flyweights: Joe Benavidez Will Be the Best

Filed under: UFC, FlyweightsWhen we assemble a list of the Top 10 flyweights in MMA, there’s a lot of guesswork involved, because the flyweight class really hasn’t been established in MMA.

That’s about to change, however, thanks to the UFC’s announcem…

Filed under: UFC, Flyweights

When we assemble a list of the Top 10 flyweights in MMA, there’s a lot of guesswork involved, because the flyweight class really hasn’t been established in MMA.

That’s about to change, however, thanks to the UFC‘s announcement this month that it will launch the flyweight division in March. Previously, there just weren’t any high-paying fights for 125-pounders, which meant that the best natural flyweights in the world were fighting bigger opponents at bantamweight.

So as I rank the Top 10 flyweights in MMA below, I’m not only ranking the Top 10 guys who have already fought at flyweight. I’m also including former bantamweights who I expect to see at flyweight in 2012. That includes the two UFC fighters who I expect to see win their flyweight debuts in March and fight for the first UFC flyweight belt in the summer.

Top 10 Flyweights in MMA
1. Joseph Benavidez: I’ve been saying for years that Benavidez would be the best flyweight in the world just as soon as he had a flyweight class to fight in. In 2012, we’ll see if I was right.

2. Demetrious Johnson: “Mighty Mouse” has incredible speed and good wrestling and has been quite successful at bantamweight. He lost his last fight to the champion, Dominick Cruz, but now that he’s a flyweight he won’t have to face the huge reach disadvantage that he had in the Cruz fight.

3. Ian McCall: The reigning Tachi Palace flyweight champion, McCall will get a chance to prove that he’s the best flyweight in the world now that he’s with the UFC. He debuts against Johnson in March.

4. Jussier da Silva: da Silva was widely regarded as the best flyweight in the world before he lost the Tachi Palace championship to McCall. Since that loss he’s gone right back to his winning ways with three straight victories, most recently with a first-round submission win over Rodrigo Santos in Brazil. He’d be a great addition to the UFC’s flyweight class.

5. Yasuhiro Urushitani: The reigning Shooto 123-pound champion is coming off a great head-kick victory and now gets ready to face Benavidez in what should be a sensational fight.

6. John Lineker: The reigning bantamweight champion of Brazil’s Jungle Fight promotion, Lineker is expected to start fighting at flyweight in the UFC in 2012. I’m eager to see what he can do: In Brazil, he’s been incredibly active (13-0 in the last two years) and incredibly exciting, with a wild striking style that has opponents not knowing what to do. The 20-year-old Lineker still has room to improve, especially in his ground game, but that improvement is going to be a lot of fun to watch. I think he’s a future flyweight champion.

7. Darrell Montague: Montague lost to McCall in his most recent fight, but his only loss other than that was to the much bigger Robert Peralta. It should be just a matter of time before he’s a UFC flyweight.

8. Shinichi “B.J.” Kojima: Kojima was once recognized as the best flyweight in the world, but after losing to da Silva in 2009 he took more than two years off. Now he’s finally back and on a two-fight winning streak, and I expect to see him in the UFC — he told me in 2009 that he wants to fight for Zuffa.

9. John Dodson: The Ultimate Fighter’s bantamweight winner will be a natural fit for the flyweight class. He’s really too small to fight at 135 pounds, and it’s impressive that he managed to win The Ultimate Fighter despite being at a size disadvantage. Dodson had a lot of success at flyweight before his Ultimate Fighter stint, and he should have more success at flyweight in the UFC. Dodson lost to Urushitani in 2004, but that fight at the beginning of his career doesn’t tell us much about how the two would match up if they ever rematched.

10. Louis Gaudinot: Immediately following Gaudinot’s loss at the Ultimate Fighter Finale, I wrote that he’s too small for bantamweight and had to fight at flyweight. I think we’ll see good things from him back at 125 pounds, where he’s more comfortable.

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