Fight Fixin’ is a fantasy matchmaking article that comes out after every major event and features possible matchups for main card winners and/or losers from the previous event.
No one gave “The Korean Zombie” a chance against Jose Aldo in the main event of UFC 163, and everyone was proven correct after he was finished by strikes in the fourth round, just seconds after blowing out his shoulder.
I still think Jung is a great fighter, but he’ll need to be built back up after this loss, and I think a good rebound match would be Jung vs. Dennis Siver. Both guys have a similar ranking, and both are exciting, so I hope the UFC matchmakers are thinking the same thing.
Fight to make: Chan Sung Jung vs. Dennis Siver
Lyoto Machida was robbed by the judges at UFC 163 in his light heavyweight bout against Phil Davis, and after the fight he expressed interest in an immediate rematch.
I enjoyed the Davis vs. Machida fight, and since the result of the contest was so universally panned, I like the idea of doing the rematch so we can find out conclusively who the better man is. Better yet, make it a five-rounder so there’s less chance of the judges screwing up.
Fight to make: Lyoto Machida vs. Phil Davis II
I didn’t know much about Thiago Santos before UFC 163, and after he was submitted by Cezar Ferreira in under a minute, I still feel like I know absolutely nothing about him. Since he took the fight on short notice, I expect the UFC to give Santos one more shot in the Octagon, and he’ll likely drop back to his natural weight class of 170.
A fighter who I’d like to see him fight is Seth Baczynski, who was knocked out by Brian Melancon at UFC 162. This would be a fun fight between two strikers, and with someone likely to get finished, this would be a good little prelim for a Brazil card.
Fight to make: Thiago Santos vs. Seth Baczynski
Tom Watson may have been able to survive three rounds of sub attempts by Thales Leites, but the decision loss dropped him to 1-2 in his UFC career, and it doesn’t leave him in a great spot in the division.
Another fighter who recently lost in the middleweight division was Trevor Smith, and I think a fight between him and Watson is just what the doctor ordered. Even if these guys don’t have the best records, they both put on fun fights for the fans, and a matchup between both could be FOTN.
Fight to make: Tom Watson vs. Trevor Smith
Jose Tome had a solid UFC debut in a losing cause against John Lineker, and he’s likely to get another fight in the UFC’s flyweight division.
The most logical fight to make next for Tome is against Iliarde Santos, who lost to Ian McCall on the undercard. Tome vs. Santos would likely be quite an exciting match, and it would determine who is a UFC-caliber fighter and who is not.
Fight to make: Jose Tome vs. Iliarde Santos
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UFC 163: Aldo vs. Jung took place on August 3, 2013 at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Click the stars to rate how good you think UFC 163 was.
