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 were the three biggest surprises and the three biggest disappointments from UFC Fight Night 63. Surprises Dustin Poirier – I didn’t know what Poirier would look like dropping back down to 155lbs, but I felt he looked fantastic against Carlos Diego Ferreira. He scored a beautiful first-round knockout in this fight and overall it was one of his most complete performances in years. I’m really looking forward to seeing him compete again in the lightweight division. Timothy Johnson – A preliminary heavyweight fight saw Johnson finish fellow UFC newcomer Shamil Abdurakhimov in the first round with strikes. Johnson looked big and strong in this fight as he came home with the upset win, and overall it was an extremely impressive UFC debut for a guy who entered the fight without much fanfare. Ron Stallings – The first fight of the night featured the journeyman Stallings taking on young prospect Justin Jones. Stallings was the dog heading into this one, but he proved to be the superior striker in the bout and won a decision. He is 32 years old and is only 1-1 in the UFC, but perhaps he cans serve his purpose as a gatekeeper to UFC newcomers. Disappointments Jorge Masvidal – A lot of people though Masvidal beat Al Iaquinta. I’m not one of those people, however. This was a close fight, but I felt like Iaquinta deserved the nod. In the first round, Masvidal dropped Iaquinta and clearly won it. He looked like he was by far the superior fighter. But in the second and third rounds, I felt he took the foot off of his gas pedal and I felt like Iaquinta’s workrate won him the fight. This fight could have gone either way, but I just feel like Masvidal had more to give, and overall I’m just disappointed by his effort in a winnable fight. Liz Carmouche – I picked Carmouche to beat Lauren Murphy and saw value in her as a tiny dog, but I do not believe she deserved this decision. Carmouche did little-to-nothing in this fight and I’m very confused why the judges felt she did enough to win. She’s 2-3 in the UFC, and her top-10 ranking is very misleading. Gray Maynard – For the fourth-straight fight, Maynard lost, and yet again he was rocked and knocked down, this time by light puncher Alexander Yakovlev. Maynard has been knocked down six times in his last six fights (according to Fight Metric) and he has been knocked out in four of his last six fights. Maynard was once one of the top 155lbers in MMA, but his days as a UFC fighter are over. He needs to call it quits.
