Surprise, surprise.

UFC Fight Night 63 took place this weekend from the Patriot Center in Fairfax, VA.  The stacked card was headlined by a pivotal featherweight matchup between two top contenders in Chad Mendes and Ricardo Lamas, with the winner moving even closer to receiving another title shot.  Filling the co-main event slot was a lightweight showdown between a veteran in Jorge Masvidal and a highly-touted up-and-comer, Al Iaquinta.

Surprises from UFC Fight Night 63

During every single mixed martial arts (MMA) event out there, there are always some shocking moments, whether it be fights, decisions, what not, and surprises throughout an event.

Without further ado, here are the top three surprises of UFC Fight Night 63.

Chad Mendes obliterates Ricardo Lamas in the first round

I expected the two-time challenger to defeat ‘The Bully’ but Mendes as a five to one favourite was insane.  I felt Mendes had an razor-thin advantage in just about every area, but couldn’t count out the man with a first-round stoppage win over the surging Dennis Bermudez.  My specific prediction was Mendes via unanimous decision.  For the first couple minutes, Lamas was using his range well and landed some kicks.  Although, the Team Alpha Male product proved me wrong, because the first strike ‘Money’ landed was powerful enough to drop the No. 4 ranked featherweight.  He absolutely obliterated Lamas, and it wasn’t much longer before the referee was forced to step in and call the fight off at the 2:45 mark of round one.

Scorecard of Al Iaquinta vs. Jorge Masvidal was in favour of ‘Raging’

I won’t go as far to say Masvidal served Iaquinta a one-sided beating.  The second and third rounds, especially, were close, but it was still a very clear 30-27, or at the worst, 29-28, for the veteran, Masvidal.  ‘Gamebred’ did fade a little the further the fight went, and Iaquinta did seem to be throwing volume.  But according to Fight Metric, Masvidal outstruck the Longo-Serra product 83-55.  When the final bell sounded, I was confident in my pick of Masvidal to take home a dominant decision win.  The judges felt differently.  Iaquinta won a split-decision with two judges giving him two rounds to one.  The other judge gave Masvidal all three rounds, how I scored it.

Mitch Clarke made a comeback to win the third round, but still took home a loss

I picked the Canadian Clarke to beat Michael Chiesa in a featured lightweight bout on the main card.  The gritty Chiesa obviously proved me wrong, with two dominant rounds that in two judges’ eyes were both 10-8 rounds.  Chiesa had Clarke in several submission attempts, but Clarke showed off his excellent submission escapes and surprisingly made it into the third round.  The Canadian turned it up in the third round and showed off his improved striking.  He did not get the stoppage he was looking for and needed, and ended up losing a 29-26, 29-26, 29-28 decision.  Although, after being dominated for 10 minutes, I was still surprised to see he had something left in him to unleash on Chiesa and take home one of three rounds.