UFC Fight Night: Machida vs. Mousasi

UFC Fight Night: Machida vs. Mousasi
Saturday, February 15, 2014
From Arena Jaragua in Jaragua do Sol, Brazil
Live on FOX Sports 1 at 10:30 PM ET / 7:30 PM PT

Main Event: (5 Rounds)

Middleweight Bout: Lyoto Machida (#4) vs. Gegard Mousasi

Main Card Bouts:

Middleweight Bout: Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza (#3) vs. Francis Carmont (#8)

Welterweight Bout: Erick Silva vs. Takenori Sato

Welterweight Bout: Viscardi Andrade vs. Nico Musoke

Featherweight Bout: Charles Oliveira vs. Andy Ogle

Preliminary Bouts: (Live on UFC Fight Pass at 7:30 PM ET / 4:30 PM PT)

Lightweight Bout: Cristiano Marcello vs. Joe Proctor

Lightweight Bout: Rodrigo Damm vs. Ivan Jorge

Lightweight Bout: Francisco Trinaldo vs. Jesse Ronson

Bantamweight Bout: Iuri Alcantara (#10) vs. Wilson Reis

Featherweight Bout: Felipe Arantes vs. Maximo Blanco

Welterweight Bout: Ildemar Alcantara vs. Albert Tumenov

Featherweight Bout: Douglas Silva de Andrade vs. Zubaira Tukhugov

Machida by either KO in round two or by points, each round more comfortable than the one before. I think Mousassi has a chance early on, but Machida is a pretty clear favorite to me. I am not totally sure why this is such a toss up for most; maybe I will find out.

Machida was just too fast for Mousasi. Mousasi kept coming forward and was able to eat the kicks of Machida, but outside of a few nice hooks and leg kicks was never really able to get his offense going.

Jacare was able to stop the win streak of Carmont, nearly getting the choke. I wouldn't mind seeing Jacare vs. Machida for a #1 contender fight, but I think both of them might be injured.

Erik Silva looked really good in taking out his opponent, but he was making his UFC debut.

I don't see a great reason to do Machida vs Jacare. I say give whichever one is healthier the next title shot. They should have time. By that time another contender may emerge that they could have the other one fight before their title fight. Both looked good, but I thought Machida's win was slightly more impressive, mostly because I think Mousasi is better than Carmont

Machida is getting the next title shot. He's the biggest name with the most momentum, and the most dangerous challenger at 185 to face the winner of Weidman vs. Belfort.

Although Machida is one of the toughest fights at 185, or even 205 for that matter, I still think that dropping back down to 185 was a mistake for Mousasi. He initially moved up to 205 because he was having making 185. Although he did alright in the fight, I think he would likely do better back up at 205.

Jacare kept his momentum alive by breaking Carmont's win streak, but while Carmont was on a winning streak, his competition wasn't the best and a couple of his wins were decisions he could have easily lost (Tom Lawlor, Lorenz Larkin). It wouldn't hurt Jacare to get one more win before a title shot.

Aside from Erick Silva's squash match, the rest of the card was just grueling to watch. It matched UFC 169 for the record of most decisions on a UFC event. Decisions aren't necessarily bad, but if they are dull, uneventful glorified sparring sessions like most of this card was, then it's a problem.

The UFC can't keep signing fighters that simply aren't ready for the UFC, or else cards like this will become the norm.