Well, that was a strange Pay-Per-View, friends. UFC 163 came and went like a mild mid-afternoon sun shower at a domed stadium, and there was really only one fight that altered the landscape of any of the weight classes. Otherwise, I’d say the main event’s result was basically what expected, but it just didn’t happen in a way that any of us liked. In fact, it flat out sucked.
But I’m also working harder to be an optimist these days and I did find one other thing that I’m really excited about for the UFC in the wake of what felt like 20 hours of fight promos in between a grand total of eight minutes of actual fighting last night.
Let’s go to the official UFC 163 results…
Main Event for the Featherweight Championship
Jose Aldo (C) def. Chan Sung Jung (TKO, Round 4)
Obviously the outcome was disappointing to many of us, because Korean Zombie was fighting his heart out and it probably would have gone the distance. Unfortunately, he also fought his shoulder out, leading to the TKO. We feel awful for Jung, but I’ve got some great news about Aldo below that will give us all something to smile about, like the opposite of this:
(GIF via)
Co-Main Event
Phil Davis def. Lyoto Machida (Unanimous decision)
I went back and watched this one twice this morning, after a decent night’s sleep (those dreams about Brittney Palmer leaving me at the altar are worse than any nightmares) and it was definitely much, much closer than it seemed to me last night. I’m glad that Davis won, because it means some new blood in the hunt to dethrone Jon Jones in the Light Heavyweight ranks.
Main Card
Cezar Ferreira def. Thiago Santos (Guillotine choke, Round 1)
Thales Leites def. Tom Watson (Unanimous decision)
John Lineker def. Jose Maria (TKO, Round 2)
FX Prelims
KNOCKOUT OF THE KNIGHT: Anthony Perosh def. Vinny Magalhaes (KO, Round 1)
Amanda Nunes def. Sheila Gaff (TKO, Round 1)
I really like Nunes’ potential. She seems like a focused, pissed off fighter. So far the women have been mostly great (Gaff seems to be the exception at 0-2 with two quick losses) and it would be nice to see Nunes build herself up into a real threat to Ronda Rousey’s armbar on the division.
SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Sergio Moraes def. Neil Magny (Triangle choke, Rounde 1)
FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Ian McCall def. Iliarde Santos (Unanimous decision)
Facebook Prelims
Rani Yahya def. Josh Clopton (Unanimous decision)
Francimar Barroso def. Ednaldo Oliveira (Unanimous decision)
Viscardi Andrade def. Bristol Marunde (TKO, Round 1)
It’s great to see the three big bonuses going to the guys in the prelim bouts, and all of them are correct. Not that there was much of a debate, I’m sure. But I’m mostly glad that Uncle Creepy got the Fight of the Night bonus, because he and Iliarde Santos really put on a show.
So What’s Next For The Unstoppable Jose Aldo?
Hopefully a superfight. According to MMA Mania, we should not rule out the possibility of Aldo moving up to 155 to face the winner of the Benson Henderson-Anthony Pettis fight at UFC 164 later this month.
“I don’t know. I would love it, but it’s up to Joe Silva. But, if I was given the opportunity, I would go there and fight. Yes!”
Aldo should definitely do this. Sure, he can keep hanging out and whooping up on the Featherweights and we’ll watch every last fight. But if Aldo’s the champ that steps up to the superfight piupe dream before Jones, Georges St-Pierre or Anderson Silva, he’d have the biggest bragging rights and balls in the UFC for sure.
