The UFC returned to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Saturday night for UFC 163, headlined by a featherweight title bout between countryman Jose Aldo and crowd pleaser Chan-Sung Jung.
Injuries to both competitors made the main event of the evening pan out differently than most expected.
The major controversy of the night came in the co-main event, as many fans, analysts and fighters alike felt the judges really dropped the ball in the way they scored Lyoto Machida vs. Phil Davis.
Conversely, the undercard certainly was not underwhelming, as there were a number of exciting and shocking finishes to speak of.
Check out the biggest winners and losers from Saturday night.
BIGGEST WINNER
Jose Aldo – While it wasn’t the prettiest fight, the long-time featherweight kingpin scored another TKO victory to retain his belt and did it with a broken foot.
Despite having one of his best weapons taken away from him, Aldo’s striking remained diverse and had an answer for just about everything Chan-Sung Jung threw at him.
The cries for “Scarface” to move to lightweight are only going to grow louder as the days go by. If he gets by potential title challenger Ricardo Lamas early next year, there isn’t much left for Aldo to prove at 145 pounds.
WINNER
Anthony Perosh – Anyone who bet on “The Hippo” knocking out Vinny Magalhaes in the first round made a small fortune.
Despite the odds of Perosh scoring a first round knockout being an unheard of 25-to-1, it took him just 14-seconds to starch his fellow Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt. Don’t look now, but Perosh has won four of his past five fights, all of which were finishes.
WINNER
Ian McCall – One of the biggest fan favorites on the UFC roster, McCall desperately needed a win after starting his career inside the Octagon with a record of 0-2-1.
Despite being in hostile territory, “Uncle Creepy” soundly defeated hometown hero Iliarde Santos, earning both competitors a “Fight of the Night” check. McCall proved he isn’t all hype; he definitely is still one of the best flyweight fighters in the world.
WINNER
Thales Leites – Leites was all over Tom Watson from start to finish, putting on a grappling clinic against the heavy-handed striker.
Leites has now won four in a row, also getting his hand raised in seven of his past eight bouts. Despite being 25 fights into his career, Leites is only 31-years-old and could be poised for another run at middleweight.
BIGGEST LOSER
Vinny Magalhaes – On paper, Anthony Perosh seemed like the perfect opponent for Magalhaes to get back to his winning ways.
Unfortunately, things couldn’t have gone any worse for the Brazilian submission wizard, getting knocked out in just 14-seconds.
Magalhaes said prior to the bout he deserves to be cut if he couldn’t handle Perosh and its hard to imagine the UFC isn’t going to take him up on that now.
LOSER
Lyoto Machida – Did he really lose? That’s the question the entire MMA community seems to want answered.
Machida slightly outstruck Davis, but also got taken down and controlled in the first two rounds. Machida has won a ton of close decisions during his UFC tenure, so it was inevitable he would eventually lose one as well.
LOSER
Chan-Sung Jung – The featherweight title challenger looks like he was at least going to make Aldo work as their championship bout wore on, but lady luck clearly wasn’t on his side.
“The Korean Zombie” dislocated his shoulder in the fourth round and, as expected, could not hold off the dominant champion with one arm. A match up against the loser of Erik Koch vs. Dustin Poirier has “Fight of the Night” written all over it.
LOSER
Bristol Marunde – The Ultimate Fighter alumnus is now 0-3 under the Zuffa banner, getting finished in each fight.
Marunde is tough and can put on some entertaining brawls, but he simply doesn’t have the skills to be competing at the highest level in mixed martial arts.