The UFC 183 card went down in Las Vegas last night, and in the tension filled main event, Anderson Silva defeated Nick Diaz in a fight that saw both men returning from layoffs of over a year to show that they can still main event in the UFC.
The rest of the fights were solid as well outside of the Kelvin Gastelum versus Tyrone Woodley co-main event. Gastelum failed to make weight by a whopping nine pounds, and that set the tone for the fight. Gastelum was reported to be sick and in the hospital earlier in the week, and he went from being a slight favorite in the fight to being a 2-to-1 underdog. Woodley won a split decision, as the impressive athlete seemed content to fight to the level of Gastelum.
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Gastelum won the “TUF” reality show at middleweight, but he clearly doesn’t belong at that weight. The fact is that Woodley looked bigger than Gastelum, whose lack of athleticism will not be able to be shrouded with the bigger guys at middleweight. This was a lose-lose for both guys, as Gastelum lost his undefeated record and took a lot of egg ont he face, and Woodley missed a chance to shine and make a statement.
In defeating well regarded Sara McMann in a come from behind fashion last night, Meisha Tate has established herself as a strong No. 2 in the women’s bantamweight class, but the win probably brings her no closer to a title shot, as no one wants to see Ronda Rousey run her over again.
Young Al Iaquinta continued his march up the charts in the lightweight division with a solid second round stoppage win over veteran Joe Lauzon. At middleweight, Thales Leites was a big favorite over Tim Boetsch, and he paid off winning via arm triangle choke in the second round. Veteran Thiago Alves stopped Jordan Mein with a body kick 40 seconds into the second round of their welterweight bout.
This brings us to John Lineker vs Ian McCall. Lineker won the unanimous decision, but will not get the flyweight title shot because he failed to make weight by four pounds. What is worse, his attitude was to not even try, and he absorbed a 30 percent fine for the infraction. Technically, in failing to make weight, Lineker is in breach of his contract and should be cut. An example needs to be made, or this is going to happen more and more when big fights are on the line. It is also a good example in that not even Lineker’s own parents and family care about him fighting. Get rid of the guy.
