Tag: sergio moraes

‘UFC 163: Aldo vs. Korean Zombie’ Aftermath: The Wrong Hands


(Photo courtesy of Josh Hedges/Getty Images.)

By George Shunick

If you dropped upwards of $50 on UFC 163 last night, you’re probably pretty frustrated right about now. This isn’t to say that UFC 163 was the worst pay-per-view in recent memory – although it certainly wasn’t the best – but that it failed to meet expectations across the board. The main event saw a fairly solid fight end early after the challenger, Chang Sung Jung, dislocated his shoulder and the champion, Jose Aldo, took advantage of that fact in brutal fashion. Meanwhile, in the co-main event, Lyoto Machida somehow managed to lose to Phil Davis despite landing harder, cleaner strikes, more strikes overall, dictating the exchanges, taking virtually no damage, stuffing 80% of Davis’ takedowns, and being better by virtually any acceptable metric. And while there were some bright spots from the other fights, it just wasn’t enough to overshadow that feeling that what should have been simply wasn’t in the fights we really cared about.

The main event itself, in a way, was hampered from the get-go. In the first round the Korean Zombie checked an Aldo leg kick, possibly breaking Aldo’s right foot. As a result, the champion was forced to call upon his other weapons. In particular, he favored the jab he developed prior to his last fight against Frankie Edgar. Because he’s an exceptional fighter, Aldo was able to still take the fight to Jung without his primary weapon, but began to slow in the third. Whether that’s because Aldo is getting too large for the division and was fatigued from cutting weight or because fighting on a broken foot kind of sucks, I don’t know. But Jung began to gain some momentum heading into the fourth round. There, as he threw a right cross, Aldo countered with a left hook over Jung’s outstretched arm. As Jung’s arm was exposed to the awkward momentum generated from colliding with Aldo’s hook, his shoulder dislocated. The Korean Zombie gritted his teeth and tried to pop the arm back in, but Aldo smelled blood, took him down, and unloaded with ground and pound. While it may not have been enough to stop a fight against a healthy Jung, Herb Dean noticed Jung was unable to defend himself and stopped it.


(Photo courtesy of Josh Hedges/Getty Images.)

By George Shunick

If you dropped upwards of $50 on UFC 163 last night, you’re probably pretty frustrated right about now. This isn’t to say that UFC 163 was the worst pay-per-view in recent memory – although it certainly wasn’t the best – but that it failed to meet expectations across the board. The main event saw a fairly solid fight end early after the challenger, Chang Sung Jung, dislocated his shoulder and the champion, Jose Aldo, took advantage of that fact in brutal fashion. Meanwhile, in the co-main event, Lyoto Machida somehow managed to lose to Phil Davis despite landing harder, cleaner strikes, more strikes overall, dictating the exchanges, taking virtually no damage, stuffing 80% of Davis’ takedowns, and being better by virtually any acceptable metric. And while there were some bright spots from the other fights, it just wasn’t enough to overshadow that feeling that what should have been simply wasn’t in the fights we really cared about.

The main event itself, in a way, was hampered from the get-go. In the first round the Korean Zombie checked an Aldo leg kick, possibly breaking Aldo’s right foot. As a result, the champion was forced to call upon his other weapons. In particular, he favored the jab he developed prior to his last fight against Frankie Edgar. Because he’s an exceptional fighter, Aldo was able to still take the fight to Jung without his primary weapon, but began to slow in the third. Whether that’s because Aldo is getting too large for the division and was fatigued from cutting weight or because fighting on a broken foot kind of sucks, I don’t know. But Jung began to gain some momentum heading into the fourth round. There, as he threw a right cross, Aldo countered with a left hook over Jung’s outstretched arm. As Jung’s arm was exposed to the awkward momentum generated from colliding with Aldo’s hook, his shoulder dislocated. The Korean Zombie gritted his teeth and tried to pop the arm back in, but Aldo smelled blood, took him down, and unloaded with ground and pound. While it may not have been enough to stop a fight against a healthy Jung, Herb Dean noticed Jung was unable to defend himself and stopped it.

Messy as it was, at least the main event had a definitive finish. I’m not sure what more can be said about Phil Davis’ “win” over Lyoto Machida that hasn’t already be said. Virtually every media observer scored the fight 30-27 for Machida. Some will argue that Machida “didn’t do enough,” which is ridiculous. By any standard – if you argue Davis landed more takedowns, it could be argued stuffing eight as opposed to allowing two inconsequential ones is more significant – he did more than Phil Davis. There really isn’t any room for debate here. People will toss around the phrase “don’t leave it up to the judges,” or some variation thereof, which is an exceptionally stupid reaction to have. Fights go to the judges. When they do, the judges ought to be able to score them competently. If they can’t, they shouldn’t judge fights. Simple as that. Machida isn’t under obligation to change his style; whether or not it requires patience to appreciate, it’s undeniably effective. Unfortunately, in MMA, effectiveness doesn’t always beat incompetence.

With all that said, there were some legitimate bright spots on the rest of the card. Anthony Perosh had a stunning 14-second knockout of Vinny Magalhaes. I’m not really sure if this is a bright spot considering Magalhaes is a much more interesting fighter than the 40 year-old Perosh, and he’ll probably end up cut because of this, but it was a shocking, exciting finish nonetheless. Ian McCall got back on the winning track with a Fight of The Night performance against Iliarde Santos. And John Lineker made a big entrance into the UFC flyweight division (OK, catchweight division) with a vicious TKO of Jose Maria Tome. Don’t be surprised to see Lineker get fast tracked to a title shot against Mighty Mouse with another win or two, assuming he can make the weight; the man has legitimately earned his nickname “Hands of Stone.” (Sorry Sam Stout. “Hands of Polyester” is still available, though!)

Still, it wasn’t enough to make up for what could have – or what should have – been. Aldo will hopefully move up in weight after this and, as much as I feel bad for poor T.J. Grant, get an immediate title shot. Hopefully against Anthony Pettis. For Jung, he’ll have to work his way back into contention. Assuming he recovers well, that shouldn’t be too hard, although I can’t say I’d favor him against Frankie Edgar. As for Phil Davis, I doubt this performance will land him a title shot, especially as Daniel Cormier looks to drop down to 205 after his fight with Roy Nelson. Machida deserves a rematch, but he won’t get one. Regardless of how effective, intelligent and even artful his style is, most fans just don’t have the patience for it. And unfortunately, it appears some judges don’t as well.

Full Results:

Main Card
Jose Aldo def. Chan Sung Jung via TKO (punches), 2:00 of Round Four
Phil Davis def. Lyoto Machida via Unanimous Decision
Cezar Ferreira def. Thiago Santos via Submission (guillotine choke), 0:47 of Round One
Thales Leites def. Tom Watson Unanimous Decision
John Lineker def. José Maria via TKO (punches), 1:03 of Round Two

Preliminary Card
Anthony Perosh def. Vinny Magalhães via KO (punches), 0:14 of Round One
Amanda Nunes def. Sheila Gaff via TKO (elbows), 2:08 of Round One
Sergio Moraes def. Neil Magny via Submission (triangle choke), 3:13 of Round One
Ian McCall def. Iliarde Santos via Unanimous Decision
Rani Yahya def. Josh Clopton via Unanimous Decision
Francimar Barroso def. Ednaldo Oliveira Unanimous Decision
Viscardi Andrade def. Bristol Marunde via TKO (punches), 1:36 of Round One

UFC 147 Aftermath Pt 2: Unrefined Guts & Emotional Homecomings

By Elias Cepeda


Card subject to change.

UFC 147’s main event provided the most fireworks of the night but other than that, it was the under card that shone brightest. Rodrigo Damm earned his first win in the UFC’s featherweight division with a rear naked choke submission win in the first round over Anistavio Medeiros de Figueiredo.

Damm took home Submission of the Night honors and the accompanying $65k bonus check. Marcus Vinicius won the KO of the night award and bonus money for his come from behind win over Wagner Campos in the final stanza of their bout. Vinicius used knees to the head and body to drop Campos and finished with nasty punches on the ground.

TUF Brazil Final Matches

Four young Brazilian prospects got the opportunity to become the next “Ultimate Fighters” last night, and in front of a raucously supportive gigantic crowd inside the nation’s largest indoor stadium, no less. Given the fighters’ Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu backgrounds, and relative inexperience, we saw a new phenomenon on display during the TUF Brazil finals – guys that can’t yet wrestle very well and are largely uncomfortable striking on their feet.

By Elias Cepeda


Card subject to change.

UFC 147′s main event provided the most fireworks of the night but other than that, it was the under card that shone brightest. Rodrigo Damm earned his first win in the UFC’s featherweight division with a rear naked choke submission win in the first round over Anistavio Medeiros de Figueiredo.

Damm took home Submission of the Night honors and the accompanying $65k bonus check. Marcus Vinicius won the KO of the night award and bonus money for his come from behind win over Wagner Campos in the final stanza of their bout. Vinicius used knees to the head and body to drop Campos and finished with nasty punches on the ground.

TUF Brazil Final Matches

Four young Brazilian prospects got the opportunity to become the next “Ultimate Fighters” last night, and in front of a raucously supportive gigantic crowd inside the nation’s largest indoor stadium, no less. Given the fighters’ Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu backgrounds, and relative inexperience, we saw a new phenomenon on display during the TUF Brazil finals – guys that can’t yet wrestle very well and are largely uncomfortable striking on their feet.

Think back to TUF 1 in the states. All of those guys, Forrest Griffin, Stephan Bonnar, Josh Koscheck, Kenny Florian, Diego Sanchez and more, turned out to be at their embryonic stages of development and all became much more polished and skilled in later years. Sometimes their fights got sloppy, but they were comparatively more well-rounded than what we’ve seen this year with TUF Brazil, and a big reason was basic wrestling competency all around.

In the U.S., wrestling programs have been huge feeder systems for MMA, leading to the base becoming a dominant skill-set in the sport. In contrast, top Brazilian teams have great striking and wrestling programs but many of these young fighters we saw on this first international TUF season are so new to MMA that they have not yet made it to those teams or simply haven’t been mixing it all together for very long yet.

A case in point was the featherweight finale that saw Godofredo Pepey repeatedly jump guard on the eventual winner Rony Jason. Pepey often jumped guard when he wasn’t taking damage and in parts of the Octagon that were not favorable places for working off of one’s back (for example, near the cage, which kills hip movement necessary to pull off submissions).

In MMA a fighter who jumps guard is either extremely confident in his or her own guard or has no confidence in other parts of their game. Or both. It appeared that Pepey, and to a lesser extent, the other finalists had a little bit of that combination.

No doubt they will all improve their games if they have humble attitudes and work with the right instructors for long enough. But in retrospect, throwing in all these pure gi and no gi Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu guys into a cage while they are still relatively inexperienced at MMA will predictably lead to the type of weird guard-jumping we saw in the featherweight final and the wild, looping and leaping striking we saw in the middleweight one.

The 185 final between Cezar Ferreira and Sergio Moraes had plenty of sloppy, but passionate striking on the feet. Ferreira jumped out ahead, looking more comfortable on his feet than his opponent, though not extremely technical. Moraes, seemed to be lost as to what to do at all on his feet, or how to throw a punch or kick or set up a real, MMA take down.

That didn’t stop Moraes, however, from making things interesting on the strength of his guts and refusal to quit. After nearly getting finished early on, Moraes rushed Ferreira in the second round with looping punches that found their mark on the jaw of Ferreira. Ultimately Ferreira won a decision and took home the contract, but Moraes showed tons of heart.

Emotions Spilling Over for Brazilian Competitors

It was frankly beautiful to see the emotion we did from Brazilian fighters fighting in front of their countrymen, Saturday. Wanderlei Silva appeared to bow and make an extended prayer at the foot of the Octagon before stepping into the cage and delivering an electrifying performance in his first fight in Brazil in over ten years.

Rony Jason had tears of joy flowing long before he won as he was overcome during his walk to the Octagon. Who could blame him? The kid was walking into the biggest opportunity and challenge of his life, and had a larger stage than many established UFC superstars have had, between the TUF show that reached ten million viewers each week and fighting in the huge stadium and on pay per view all over the world. That had to be the best moment of his entire life. That is, until fifteen competition minutes later when he was awarded a UFC contract.