Surprises and Disappointments is a column that comes out the day after every UFC event, highlighting three fighters who had surprising performances and three fighters who disappointed. Here are the three surprises and three disappointments for the TUF China Finale. Surprises Dong Hyun Kim — The main event was one for the ages as Kim finished John Hathaway with a vicious spinning elbow. Kim was a big favorite heading into the fight and was expected to win, but I don’t think anyone thought it would be by spinning back elbow KO. An amazing win for Kim, and he’ll be fighting someone in the top 10 in his next outing. Vaughan Lee — In a bantamweight bout, Lee showed incredible striking technique as he thoroughly beat up Nam Phan en route to a clear-cut unanimous decision. We’ve never seen Lee this good inside the Octagon, and suddenly he’s become a darkhorse at 135 pounds — or at 125 pounds, where he’s rumored to have his next fight. Anying Wang — In a preliminary bout, Wang beat up Albert Cheng so bad the doctor was forced to call a stop to the fight due to a badly-swollen eye. It was a nice display of striking by Wang, and I’m looking forward to his next fight in the Octagon. Disappointments Shawn Jordan — Jordan was knocked out by Matt Mitrione at the last second of the first round of their heavyweight bout, his second-straight loss in the Octagon via KO. An awful performance by Jordan, and he may be released by the UFC as he’s shown in his last two fights he doesn’t have the chin strength necessary to survive against the best heavyweight fighters in the world. Nam Phan — Phan had a good matchup against Lee but just wasn’t able to pull the trigger for whatever reason. Maybe it was jet leg, maybe it was a bad weight cut — who knows. What matters is he lost, and he looked terrible in doing so. Now 2-6 in the UFC, he’ll likely be released. Jumabieke Tuerxun — In the first fight of the night, the highly-favored Tuerxun lost a clear-cut decision to Mark Eddiva. A terrible performance by Tuerxun, who had a padded record for anyone who bothered to watch the tape on him. He is likely to be undervalued in his next bout, but until he shows he can win in the UFC this is a fighter to stay away from as far as bets go.
