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 174. Surprises Kiichi Kunimoto — Not many people gave him a chance, but Kiichi Kunimoto upped his UFC record to 2-0 with a first-round rear-naked choke on Daniel Sarafian. It was a great performance by the Japanese fighter and it will be interesting to see who the UFC matches him up with next. Yves Jabouin — He was the underdog to Mike Easton, but Yves Jabouin certainly didn’t fight like one as he was able to outstrike and more impressively outwrestle his opponent en route to a unanimous decision nod. Jabouin, who moved to 5-2 in the UFC bantamweight division with the win, is one of the most underrated 135ers in the UFC and this victory should earn him a big fight his next time out. Tae Hyun Bang — In the best fight of the entire card, Tae Hyun Bang knocked out Kajan Johnson with a brutal punch in the third round of a tremendous back-and-forth affair. No one expected such a good performance by Bang, but he definitely impressed in the fight and I’m excited to see who UFC matchmaker Joe Silva gives him in his next outing. Disappointments Tyron Woodley — Had he beaten Rory MacDonald in the co-main event of UFC 174, Tyron Woodley could have been in line for a title shot at 170lbs. Instead, Woodley had the worst performance of his career to date as he continuously backed up against the fence and was eaten alive by MacDonald in the standup. At 32 years of age and now at the back of the line of contenders, it’s unlikely to believe Woodley will ever get this close to a UFC title shot again. Andrei Arlovski — He may have won the fight on the judges’ cards, but Andrei Arlovski was beaten to the punch for three-straight rounds by Brendan Schaub in an awful return bout to the UFC. Yes, he did get a bad decision in his favor, but anyone who watched the fight knows he should have lost because he did absolutely nothing other than push Schaub against the fence a bit. At 35, Arlovski looks like he’s near the end of the road and if the UFC puts him in against a power puncher in his next fight, I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see him get knocked out again. Roland Delorme — Despite being just a small underdog to Michinori Tanaka in what most felt was a close fight, Delorme fought the worst fight he could as he was put on his back for three rounds and beaten up en route to a unanimous decision loss. I’m not sure what else to say other than Delorme looked awful and this loss could lead to him getting released from the promotion.
