Surprises and Disappointments is a column featured on MMAOddsbreaker.com after every UFC event, highlighting three fighters who had surprising performances and three fighters who disappointed. Here are the three surprises and the three disappointments from UFC on FOX 11. Surprises Fabricio Werdum — He’s had some big upset wins in his career, but Fabricio Werdum’s unanimous decision victory over Travis Browne was perhaps the most important of them all as it earned him a UFC heavyweight title shot against Cain Velasquez. Werdum was not expected to win and yet dominated Browne in the standup and on the ground for five-straight rounds. At 36 years of age, Werdum has never looked better and is truly deserving of his title shot against Velasquez. The two collide in Mexico City later this year, and it should be a great fight when it finally goes down. Alex White — He was the underdog and took the fight on short notice, but Alex White proved the doubters wrong and stayed undefeated with a vicious first-round knockout of Estevan Payan. Only 25, White looks like a nice prospect in the UFC featherweight division and I’m looking forward to his next fight. Since he didn’t take any damage, let’s get him in there right away. With an injury to Doo Ho Choi Sam Sicilia just lost his opponent for next month’s UF 173 card, and I think White would make for a great replacement. Ray Borg — He’s only 20 years old, but watch out for Ray Borg as a title contender in the flyweight division. “The Tazmexican Devil” showed tremendous skills on the ground and solid striking in his split decision loss to Dustin Ortiz, a fight that I believe Borg deserved to win. Regardless, he hung in there with a UFC veteran and a solid fighter in Ortiz and I was very, very impressed. Since he’s only 20, there’s no point of rushing Borg, so hopefully the UFC gives him a flyweight lower on the ladder such as Danny Martinez. Disappointments Travis Browne — While his opponent Fabricio Werdum had a tremendous performance, Travis Browne did not. Although he was over a 2-to-1 favorite going into the fight, Browne just didn’t perform up expectations and blew a huge opportunity to secure a title shot. Aside from getting taken down multiple times during the fight, Browne also displayed poor cardio and seemed exhausted by the time the fight hit the championship rounds. It’s clear Browne needs more work, but don’t write him off just yet. For his next matchup, let’s see Browne take on the loser of UFC Fight Night 42’s Junior dos Santos vs. Stipe Miocic. Miesha Tate — She had a favorable style matchup and a big size advantage against Liz Carmouche, but Miesha Tate still only managed to squeak out a questionable unanimous decision, all three judges scoring the bout 29-28. It was a competitive fight to be sure, but in my eyes Carmouche won the first two rounds and deserves the win. Tate is very lucky she got the judges’ nod and she has a lot of work to do to fix her flaws, especially in regard to her defensive wrestling. Still, she won the fight and remains in the top 10. For her next fight, let’s see her take on Sarah Kaufman in a rematch of their 2009 Strikeforce Challengers bout that Kaufman won via unanimous decision. Brad Tavares — Although Brad Tavares was given a big opportunity by the UFC in opening up the FOX main card, Tavares looked flat throughout the course of three rounds against Yoel Romero and saw his five-fight win streak snapped. Tavares was taken down numerous times throughout the contest and he was outstruck as well. Luckily for him he’s only 26, so Tavares can still turn things around. For his next fight, let’s see him take on fellow TUF 11 alum Chris Camozzi.
