These were the three biggest surprises and the three biggest disappointments from UFC 188. The Surprises Fabricio Werdum — Very few people were giving Werdum any credit heading into his fight against Cain Velasquez, but once again he proved why MMA is the best sport in the world as he dominated the champ and finished him with a third-round guillotine choke. Werdum is an incredible fighter and gets better every single fight. He will be a great champion for the UFC moving forward, and hopefully he defends the belt more than Velasquez does. Yair Rodriguez — Of all the TUF LA fighters, Rodriguez has by far the highest ceiling. He and Charles Rosa won a Fight of the Night award and Rodriguez won a win bonus when he took home a split decision, but even if he didn’t get the nod from the judges it was still an awesome performance by him — one where he showed a fantastic striking arsenal and a slick ground game — and moving forward he’s someone to keep your eye out on at 145lbs. Patrick Williams — Where did Williams come from? The guy looked horrible in his UFC debut against Chris Beal, but then puts on an amazing showing against Alejandro Perez, finishing him in 23 seconds. It was a fantastic submission win for Williams, and suddenly fans are excited for his next fight. Going forward, you just can’t sleep on him as he has that explosiveness that can end fights in a flash. The Disappointments Gilbert Melendez — At one point in time Melendez was arguably the top lightweight in the world. But since coming to the UFC he is 1-3 and with a split decision loss to Eddie Alvarez at UFC 188, he’s further away from the title picture than he has been since he began his career. He’s still a top-10 fighter, but he’s simply not championship-level quality anymore. Augusto Montano — If the UFC cuts Montano I really wouldn’t mind. He refused to engage with Cathal Pendred and in general just looked terribly uninterested in fighting. He is popular in Mexico so maybe he gets one more UFC fight, but I’d argue he doesn’t really even deserve another shot after such a poor performance. Clay Collard — I like watching Collard fight, but the hard truth is while he’s a talented offensive talent he has some of the worst striking defence in the entire UFC. He just stands there and gets tagged and doesn’t move his head, as exemplified by his fight with Gabriel Benitez, and at only 22 he’s already taken a ton of damage. He’s still young, so he could change his style and make big improvements, but he seems like a talented guy with a low fight IQ and I just think it’s going to make for a short career.
