Another UFC card provided yet another night full of surprises and disappointments. Here’s three of each from Saturday night’s UFC on FOX 10 event. Surprises Josh Thomson — In the main event of the evening, Josh Thomson put on one of the best performances of his career, defeating Benson Henderson to earn himself a shot at the UFC lightweight title. Wait, nevermind — despite the fact that everyone and their mother thought Thomson deserved to win, the judges blew it yet again and wrongly awarded Henderson the split decision. The loss stings for the 35-year-old Thomson, who hinted at retirement after the defeat, but at least the fans were rewarded to a tremendous performance by Thomson on Saturday night despite a thumb injury that hindered him throughout the contest. Despite the loss, considering he was one of the biggest dogs on the card it has to be considered a surprise he was inches away from getting his hand raised. Alex Caceres — He was the underdog despite the fact he had a huge edge in Octagon experience, but Alex Caceres showed he’s a real bantamweight contender with an incredible, “Submission of the Night”-worthy outing against top prospect Sergio Pettis. The fight likely would have been awarded to Caceres had it hit the judges’ scorecards, but the fact he was able to get the tapout on Pettis with just 21 seconds left in their three-round war was huge. A big win for Caceres, who deserves to fight a top-10 bantamweight his next time out. Nikita Krylov — I’m still not sold on him, but for one night I have to give Nikita Krylov the respect he deserves. Despite being the laughingstock of the UFC after his embarrassing debut against Soa Palelei last year, Krylov shocked the world as a gigantic underdog with a question mark kick on Walt Harris that knocked his bigger opponent down, where “Al Capone” would finish him off with punches. A tremendous performance by Krylov against a heavier opponent, and he will likely be making the cut to 205 for his next fight. Disappointments Adriano Martins — I know he was the underdog, but I think everyone was expecting more of Adriano Martins. After a dominating UFC debut against Daron Cruickshank last year, Martins was getting the respect of the betting public against Donald Cerrone at UFC on FOX 10, but other than landing a few nice left hands early in the fight, he was mostly outclassed and finished off with a booming head kick in round one. Martins is 31 and this fight with Cerrone was his shortcut to the top 10, so I don’t know where he goes from here now that he lost. Yaotzin Meza — When you have a clear size advantage over your opponent there is no reason why they should be able to dominate you with top control on the ground, but that’s exactly what happened to Yaotzin Meza, who was grounded out by Chico Camus despite the fact he was clearly the bigger fighter. A very bad performance by Meza and he will likely get cut from the UFC. Walt Harris — In the opening fight of the UFC on FOX 10 card, Walt Harris — the biggest favorite on the whole card — was knocked out with a head kick and punches in just 25 seconds by Nikita Krylov. It was a horrible performance by Harris, and extremely disappointing for those who believed in the big man’s potential. Harris is now 0-2 in the UFC and it’s very likely he is released from his contract after such a lackluster performance against a mediocre fighter like Krylov.
