UFC 163: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

My review of UFC 163

by Tommy Strong @strong_tea

UFC 163 came and went with a bit of a whimper with Jose Aldo retaining his UFC Featherweight belt for the fifth consecutive time at the HSBC Arena Rio de Janiero, Brazil,  and the co-main event seeing a somewhat controversial decision in the eyes of the fans and the fighter!!

Jose Aldo def. Chan Sung Jung (4th Rd TKO)
The Ugly

Jose Aldo proved once again why he is so formidable at 145lbs, Aldo pressed the action from the off, The Korean Zombie was hesitant in coming forward in a relentless fashion we are accustomed too and where he earn't his nickname.

Aldo made the most of this , landing strikes and taking Chan down and taking control of the first three rounds.

Going into the 4th, the Korean Zombie threw an overhand right to the head of Aldo which missed, leading to a dislocated shoulder, you could clearly see the pain Chan was in, and in the process tried to pop his shoulder back into its socket.

Having failed to do so, Aldo took the advantage straight away landing a kick to the damaged shoulder and jumped all over him, with little else to do but cover up under the barrage of strikes, Herb Dean called an end to the action.

Phil Davis def. Lyoto Machida (29-28 x 3)

The Bad: The Fight & Decision ? 

Im glad we don't see too many of these fights! It was a stinker. With so much on the line for both fighters it became a very cagey fight where both were hesitant to engage or force the action.
Machida was the more aggressive of the two, and was stealing the first two rounds until Davis managed take downs at the end of the first and second round, but doing little once down.

Going into the third Machida landed the better strikes and stuffing the take downs Davis was gunning for.

When the Judges came back with a majority decision , I think everyone expected a Machida win.

29-28 on all 3 judges score cards, Bruce Buffer announced the winner..................
Phil 'Mr. Wonderful' Davis!!!

Cezar Ferreira def. Thiago Santos (1st Rd Sub)

Blink and you would've missed this fight! Cezar wasted no time in hunting down Santos landing a left hook which staggered Santos. Cezar could smell the blood and went in for the kill, sinking in a guillotine choke forcing Santos to tap after just 47 second into the first round.

Thales Leites def. Tom Watson (29-27 x 3)

Leites made his return to the UFC since being released in 2009, looking very impressive against Watson. Controlling the fight from the first bell, showing superior grappling and wrestling skills to control Watson and taking him to the mat at will and keeping him down.

Landing heavy damage throughout the first and second round, Watson had little success until the they got back on their feet.

Watson landed some good strikes when Leites was tired at the end of the second and third round, but it wasn't enough to earn a round let alone a win.

John Linekar def. Jose Maria  (2nd Rd TKO)

If Linekar carries on to miss weight he will either be forced to moved back up to Bantamweight or see himself in deep trouble with the UFC. Having missed weight by 4lbs on Friday its the second time in his last four fights he's failed to miss weight!

Maria look very tentative on his UFC debut with Linekar walking him down looking to land a right hand to finish the fight early. Though it was Maria that started well, landing a wonder spinning backfist that landed flush on Linekar who was on wobbly legs, Maria sensed Linekar was in trouble and landed some heavy shots which saw him in serious trouble.

Linekar managed to survive the first round , into the second Maria started the stronger and faster of the two until he throw a leg kick which seemed to hurt himself. Linekar pounced on the opportunity handed to him and landed some heavy shots to Maria, forcing the ref to stop the fight.

The Good:

With Joe Rogan away with prior arrangements, ex UFC Middleweight Brian Stann stepped up to take his place. With some concern of how the relationship between Goldberg and Stann would work, I was assured after a few minutes he would be a great replacement.

I was very impressed of how informative Stann was, he came across very well without all the excitement of Rogan at key times. As much as I enjoy Rogan and Goldberg, I wouldn't mind seeing more of Stann in future events! Bravo UFC, good call.