A brief look back at the events of UFC 163 including Jose Aldo's win over Chan Sung Jung after "The Korean Zombie" dislocated his shoulder.
Not every fight can be great and not every card can be surprisingly entertaining. UFC 163 wasn't horrible nor will anyone be demanding a refund, but it wasn't a show that is going to stick with people for a long time.
Chan Sung Jung's attempt to pop his own dislocated shoulder back into socket mid-fight while Jose Aldo threw kicks at it like a violent monster will be the lasting image, but it's also a reminder of what we lost. Jung was going to lose the fight, but he was turning it up a little bit and looked like he was going to make the rest of the fight entertaining.
Instead, a punch drifted behind Aldo's head, landing exactly in the one spot that would result in his arm getting caught in just the exact way that would result in a dislocation.
That Herb Dean didn't stop the fight at the first sign of a very obvious, very severe injury that left Jung unable to truly defend himself could maybe be defended by saying that he "didn't know" (though, knowing is a part of his job). But Jung's face, shoulder and actions as he tried to pop it back in made it clear something had happened. And Jung kept trying to pop it back in, and couldn't lift it, and was in obvious pain. Dean did not exactly do his job as far as protecting the fighters in that spot.
Speaking of poor jobs done tonight...the judges absolutely robbed Lyoto Machida. There was a mini-swarm of people wanting to blame Machida "not going for the win" for the poor judging, but he clearly won rounds one and three and I thought he won round two as well. That Machida fights are "hard to score" speaks more to the inability to apply the rules effectively and consistently than some issue with Machida's style.
I also wish Dana White hadn't immediately tweeted the "that's why you don't leave it in the hands of the judges" thing. While a segment of the MMA fanbase will never agree, decision is a legitimate way to win a fight, and fighters should absolutely be able to trust that a fight that goes to the cards will be scored accurately and fairly.
I don't want to get too far before I give some love to Brian Stann. Stann was fantastic in the color role tonight. He was enthusiastic without coming across like a spaz, knowledgeable without coming across as smug and delivered his thoughts effectively throughout the night. I'd love to have him on color every single event.
Someone needs to explain to me what the point of giving Cezar Ferreira a squash match on the PPV portion of the card was. Is having him win a blowout that important?
I mentioned it before the show really got going, but I fully understand why Ian McCall was on the FX prelims. He was 0-2-1 in the UFC coming into the night. He couldn't be turned into a title challenger right away and flyweight isn't a marquee division. So the main card slot went to John Lineker who didn't exactly disappoint. If only he'd made weight. Jose Maria is going to be a staple at 125 though, he gave Lineker all he could handle and was hurting a guy whose chin is pretty much granite.
Thales Leites looked good for most of the first two rounds in his UFC return against Tom Watson, but he gassed something awful late and left the third round of their fight to be a bit on the sloppy side. Leites has clearly improved his striking game though and can still be a real headache on the ground.
Anthony Perosh knocking out Vinny Magalhaes in 14 seconds seems like the perfect encapsulation of both fighters' careers. Perosh has had a bizarre career and had just lost in 7 seconds and Magalhaes never quite capitalized on the talent and expectations everyone had. So, of course, Perosh lands the quick KO in a fight that was supposed to be horrible for him and great for Vinny.
Amanda Nunes looked awesome tonight, just completely beasting Sheila Gaff and Sergio Moraes was simply in a different league from Neil Magny.