UFC Fight Night 36 was not a strong night for the UFC. The undercard was full of fighters who are fringe fighters for the UFC, and while there were some intriguing prospects, overall the average quality of fighter on UFC events are on the decline. This is due to the increasingly large roster the UFC is carrying to support the expanded event calendar for 2014.
It really seems that the UFC has events they don't overly care about and this card screamed filler in a few respects. The near empty undercard and the awkward timing of the card for both the fans in Brazil, who were up well into the morning, and U.S. fans. Throw in that the Fight Pass feed seemed to be delayed as fights started as soon as the previous fight ended, the UFC 170 ads incorrectly referred to Ronda Rousey as the first female to medal in Judo, and the continuing problem of a lack of quality venues in Brazil, all in addition to number of poor fights and this was a rough night for the UFC.
On to thoughts on the fights:
- Lyoto Machida and Gegard Mousasi engaged in a chess match of a striking battle as both fighters fought a subtle distance battle, a battle in which Machida consistently got the better of Mousasi. Machida looks wonderful at Middleweight, his gas tank looked fine despite the weight cut and his striking was as sharp as ever.
- Jacare Souza outclassed Francis Carmont across the course of three rounds. Souza continues to make strides on the feet as his footwork looked on point and his balance on the feet looked wonderful. His takedowns were as sharp as ever and he is one of the best landing in dominant positions after a takedown. Carmont got the second round on the scorecards, but I feel that was because Souza was so dominant in the first round anything was a let down by comparison.
- It seems a shot at the winner between UFC Middleweight Champion Chris Weidman and Vitor Beflort is between Jacare and Machida. As it stands Jacare should be the next contender, he has put in his time against elite Middleweights. Machida is the more marketable fighter, which means he will likely get the shot.
- Erick Silva brought some quality violence against Takenori Sato, starting things off with a body kick, and then punishing Sato with some unique heel kicks and more pedestrian crushing hammer fists. Silva is on the verge of turning 30 and really needed a strong performance against a fighter hand picked to lose to him. Silva is no longer a prospect, he is coming up to the later part of his athletic prime and needs to find some consistency moving forward if he wants to be a contender. If he doesn't, there will always be a place in MMA fan's hearts for his natural tendency towards flashy violence.
- Nicholas Musoke got dropped early against Viscardi Andrade but came back to win in a fight that was inexplicably placed on the main card.
- Charles Oliveira got a nice triangle against Andy Ogle and Oliveira certainly looked good at times, but a lot of what has caused Oliveira to struggle in the UFC is still in play. Oliveira doesn't manage distance well, which is mitigated by the fact that he is a good clinch fighter, especially for a lanky fighter. He is a very good grappler, but is very accepting of bottom position and working for submissions. A lot of the causes of Oliveira's struggles against elite fighters are still lurking under the surface.
The undercard caught a lot of flak for being all decisions, and for sure they were pretty terrible but there were a few interesting things of note.
- Iuri Alcantara and Wilson Reis had an awesome match. On the mat they matched technique against technique at light speed, flowing through a speed chess grappling match. The only damper on this fight was a horrific stand up by referee Osiris Maia, but other than that it was an excellent match. Reis showed some improved boxing, but getting tagged on the feet is likely what lost him this fight.
- Albert Tumenov lost a very close fight against Ildemar Alvantara, and while I disagreed with the scorecards, a big hole in Tumenov's game was exposed. Tumenov looked very weak off his back playing guard, his half guard looked particularly under developed. Tumenov is a great talent and hist striking looked sharp, but he will need to address his grappling to become a serious player at Welterweight. He is still very young and has a lot of time to work on improving his overall game.
- Zubaira Tukhugov got the win, but was not as impressive as I expected him to be against largely self-trained fighter Douglas Silva de Andrade. Like Tumenov, Tukhugov is talented and very young and has a lot of time to build his skill set.
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