Catching up on the UFC that happened last night because I was sitting in Baltimore at the smallest Greyhound bus station I've been in headed back to the home front after reffing and competing. Thiago Santos vs Anthony Smith basically saved the broadcast. Man. That dude Anthony Smith has already been in some barnburners this early in his UFC career. Some quick thoughts: Tim Means vs Moraes is what I hate about sloppy kickboxing bouts in MMA. Just that. Reread that sentence. Moraes looked much better than when he wilted against Usman, in fact, he looked like a totally different fighter/competitor. He's been on and off for me in various fights, all the more frustrating due to his legit grappling resume. Check out his fight with Davi Ramos for another sloppy kickboxing bout with minimal grappling to shake your head and pound the table with your fists in frustration.
I guess Machida beat Anders. I find it hard to put rounds in the bank for a guy who's continually backpedaling and scoring check leg kicks to the inside of the thigh. Anders pressed the pace and did some legit damage IMHO. I'm not even an Anders fan, I just had a hard time giving rounds to Machida with his backpedal style. I had forgotten Machida was the original "elusive" UFC guy, before people hated on Thompson, there were people decrying Machida pretty vociferously.
Schevhenko's fight was a glaring admission and proof of how lacking in depth the UFC's female divisions are. It's kinda blah as an argument to say "oh well we just opened up this division so there will be mismatches while we see who belongs" when the rationale for creating a division is sorta the obvious "we're creating a division to showcase the amount of fighters who currently exist." I'm a huge Schevchenko fan but seeing her pound on a human target was not sporting, wasn't gratifing, wasn't even laughable as a presentation of professional mixed martial arts with women fighters on a broadcast. The rest of the card was what I've come to expect from various UFC Brazil cards (I truly racked my brain for a good card to counter this narrative I'm spinning, but honestly couldn't). Holloway beating up Aldo in Brazil was a good marquee fight that comes to mind, but otherwise I'm shooting blanks. Iuri Alcantara picked up a convincing stoppage with with a body kick/knee? that led to a quick ground n' pound stoppage win. With this many events, there's bound to be builder events where watching some new main card faces prove if they should move up is part of it, and every season pro sport has just that...the regular season and even pre-season, but this felt a bit below the mark even for that. Anyhow, I'm probably just salty because I spent 3 hours in a bus station rather than watching the fights from the comfort of my bed, but a complete mismatch, Machida shucking and jiving for 5 rounds, and a total blowout of a women's fight was just not much to sit and sip coffee to today upon waking up. Overall, we've got a dearth of legit match-ups through April (even with the 2nd time we've lost an Edgar/Holloway title fight) and it's still an amazing first 1/3 of the year to look forward to and appreciate. 
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