If you got up at 6:00 a.m. for UFC Fight Night 34, you were treated to a very fun fight card that featured a number of standout performances from fighters being counted out by the betting public, as well as a main event that will likely be amongst the best of 2014 when the year is over. As alluded to, there were a number of fighters who had surprisingly-good performances. On the flipside, there were a number of fighters who disappointed greatly. Here are three of each in the UFC Fight Night 34 edition of Surprises and Disappointments. Surprises Hyun Gyu Lim — In the main event of the evening, Hyun Gyu Lim showed incredible heart and toughness in surviving a number of brutal leg kicks by Tarec Saffiedine to take the Strikeforce welterweight champion the five-round distance and nearly get a KO victory in the last 10 seconds of the fight — on one leg! Lim may have lost the fight, but he certainly didn’t lose any fans for his gutsy performance — in fact, he gained a whole new legion of supporters. He definitely has some work to do in his striking technique and he needs to start checking leg kicks, but this guy is a warrior and I see a bright future for him in the sport. Tatsuya Kawajiri — In the co-main event of the evening, Tatsuya Kawajiri showed that he shouldn’t have closed as the underdog against Sean Soriano as he took over with his wrestling before submitting Soriano with a rear-naked choke in the second. A lot of people were sleeping on Kawajiri against the young prospect Soriano, but the veteran came through with flying colors and will get a top featherweight opponent his next time out. Russell Doane — In a Submission of the Night-winning performance, Russell Doane showed he’s a prospect to watch out for in the UFC bantamweight division with a brilliant, come-from-behind triangle choke submission win over Leandro Issa with just one second remaining in the second round. It was a huge win for Doane, who says he’s going to buy a dog with his 50k bonus, and he’ll get a good opponent in his next outing. Disappointments Luiz Dutra — In a welterweight bout that for some reason was on the main card, Luiz Dutra hit Kiichi Kunimoto so hard in the back of the head that the referee was forced to disqualify him after Kunimoto had to be carried out on a stretcher. This was a big opportunity for Dutra to prove he’s UFC calibre, and he blew it. He’ll be lucky to get another fight in the Octagon. Quinn Mulhern — For some reason, Quinn Mulhern thought it was a good idea to keep pulling guard against Katsunori Kikuno and for 15 minutes he flopped to his back as his UFC career slowly faded away. An absolutely awful performance by Mulhern, and not surprisingly he announced his retirement from MMA after the match. Maribek Taisumov — In a lightweight bout, highly touted prospect Maribek Taisumov outpaced Tae Hyun Bang to pick up his first UFC victory. That was all well and dandy, but it was clear Taisumov was the better fighter everywhere and he really should have finished this fight, not just eeked out a decision on the judges’ scorecards. Disappointing, to say the least, but it’s possible he had the Octagon jitters.
