UFC Fight Night 83 Results: The Real Winners and Losers from Pittsburgh

Scott HarrisFeb 21, 2016

UFC Fight Night 83 and its fighters faced plenty of misfortune in the run-up to the event, held Sunday night in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. No fewer than seven competitors originally booked for the event had to drop out for one reason or another.

That includes some crowd-pleasing strikers in Brandon Thatch and Sam Alvey. Another knockout artist, John Lineker, pulled out after he contracted a case of dengue fever. Dengue fever!

Most notably, Tim Means was flagged for a potential doping violation and had to withdraw from his main event with Donald Cerrone. That's the same Donald Cerrone who made a big name for himself at lightweight and debuted Sunday as a welterweight.

Cerrone instead faced a relatively unheralded (if fairly exciting) competitor in Alex Oliveira, who also goes by the nickname Cowboy. I know, what are the odds?

Even with the amazing nickname convergence, that fight and this card as a whole had a notably lower Q Score, thanks to injuries and bad luck. Hey, it happens.

But that doesn't mean there weren't good fights. You just have to know where and how to look. That's where we come in, and as always, the final stat lines only reveal so much. These are the real winners and losers from UFC Fight Night 83.

For the literal-minded among us, full card results appear on the final slide.

Winner: Donald Cerrone

1 of 7

Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images

That's how you make a debut in a new weight class.

Donald Cerrone is more than a fun quote. He's a darn doggone good fighter. He showed it, once again, by beating Alex Oliveira.

Then again, Cerrone also gives a darn good quote.

"If you want to get hurt out here," Cerrone told broadcaster Jon Anik in the cage after submitting Oliveira with a triangle choke less than three minutes into the very first round," I know a guy."

I know a guy, too. It's Cerrone, who displayed his pinpoint striking and sometimes underdisplayed jiu-jitsu. He perfectly timed his takedown, quickly got to mount, wrapped his legs around Oliveira's neck for a triangle choke and forced the other Cowboy to tap almost instantly.

It will be interesting to see whom the UFC matchmakers give Cerrone next. Is he a contender right off the bat in the top-heavy welterweight division? Would a fight with Johny Hendricks be too much? Too little?

There are more questions than answers for Cerrone in that context. But in the context of the cage, against an aggressive but ultimately inferior opponent, Cerrone had the perfect response on Sunday.

Winner: Derek Brunson

2 of 7

Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Roan Carneiro fell back to the mat, perhaps hoping to lure Derek Brunson into his dangerous guard.

Instead, he lured Brunson into a brutal TKO—for Brunson. That's not very good luring.

After what felt like a million ground strikes, referee Keith Peterson called a stop to the contest, and Brunson had the win inside three minutes.

This was Brunson's fourth win in a row. It was his third win a row by TKO. A college wrestler, he has evolved beyond his grinding, clinch-heavy foundation. His striking is improving, and both his power and cardio appear to exist in abundance.

"Man, I'm a straight animal," Brunson told Anik in the cage after the fight. "I'm just a fierce man...going straight to the title."

Brunson may have been under the radar as a middleweight contender before Pittsburgh. He's on the other side of the radar now.

Winner: Cody Garbrandt

3 of 7

John Locher/Associated Press

Before the dengue fever, Cody Garbrandt was supposed to fight Lineker on this card. Darn those mosquitoes! They robbed us of a terrific matchup.

Thanks to Garbrandt, though, we didn't miss out on an electric knockout.

Kudos to Augusto Mendes for taking the fight, despite having to cut nearly 30 pounds on short notice after Lineker's withdrawal. He came up short (or heavy, I guess), but he deserves credit just for signing the contract, especially against a striker as polished and powerful as Garbrandt.

It was also Mendes' UFC debut, so frankly, he probably didn't feel like he had much of a choice. Either way, Mendes showed off his slick jiu-jitsu, but that couldn't stop Garbrandt from landing a crushing right hand and finishing the fight with hammerfists.

Loser: Joe Riggs

4 of 7

Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images

It only took 26 seconds.

Joe Riggs is a real veteran of MMA. He has beaten Nick Diaz, Chris Lytle and a host of others during his career.

But those 59 pro fights have him looking—and, more importantly, fighting—much older than his 33 years, as Diesel didn't put up much resistance in this trucking at the hands of Chris Camozzi.

A right hand down the pipe got it started. Riggs seemed to fold in on himself, and Camozzi seized a thai clinch and went to work with knee strikes.

To his credit, Camozzi looked terrific. However, it's hard to tell how much of that had to do with him and how much had to do with his opponent. Riggs attempted to cover up, but it was no use. He hit the mat quickly and it was over.

I can think of something else that might need to be over now, too. All respect to Riggs, but the various metaphorical juices yielded by MMA competition may no longer be worth the squeeze he's putting on his body.

Winner: The Holy War Angel

5 of 7

David Dermer-USA TODAY Sports

He needed exactly one minute to dispatch Daniel Sarafian. Feints helped him set up some huge kicks and punches. Springing up from almost his knees, he threw a sneaky but massive uppercut that shut off Sarafian's switch immediately.

In the seconds after the referee waved off the contest, Oluwale Bamgbose—also known by his delightfully subtle nickname, The Holy War Angel—knelt down and prayed over Sarafian's fallen form.

It was all a little scary.

Afterward, the chiseled Nigerian-American middleweight told broadcaster Jon Anik in the cage that "I have speed...and I have power like a heavyweight. I'm serious."

To which Anik responded, "I'm not going to argue with that."

Good call, Anik. Good call.

Losers: Andrew Adkins and John Lapcevic

6 of 7

David Dermer-USA TODAY Sports

Marion Reneau (left) kicks Ashlee Evans-Smith

The bout bogged down at times, but women's bantamweight Marion Reneau appeared, in the eyes of most observers, to defeat Ashlee Evans-Smith by at least a 29-28 score.

As we know, MMA judges are not most observers.

Evans-Smith received the split-decision nod by a very strange score of 30-27, 28-29, 29-27.

According to the official score card, tweeted by MMAFighting.com, showed that Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission judges Andrew Adkins and John Lapcevic called the bout for Evans-Smith, with both men giving the victor the first round—a round everyone thought was an easy win for Reneau.

MMA analyst Adam Martin summarized the general feeling when he noted that "I'm rarely surprised by decisions anymore, but I am legit shocked by that decision. Sitting here with my hand over my mouth. Just stunned."

Another masterstroke, MMA judges. Another masterstroke.