The best and worst from UFC Fight Night 137: Santos vs. Anders

#2 Worst: Bad matchmaking gets Pedersoli hurt

Carlo Pedersoli should never have been matched with Alex Oliveira

The co-main event of the show saw Alex ‘Cowboy’ Oliveira take on relative newcomer Carlo Pedersoli Jr, and the result went exactly how many people expected – Pedersoli was left unconscious after just 39 seconds of action. But while the knockout was fun to watch – unless you’re a friend or relative of Pedersoli’s of course – it probably shouldn’t have happened.

Oliveira picked up his career-biggest win in April over former Welterweight champ Carlos Condit and was clearly due a step up for his next fight. He was given that in the form of top ten ranked Neil Magny, but when Magny was instead moved to the main event of the upcoming Fight Night 140, the UFC really should’ve either found ‘Cowboy’ a similar opponent, or pulled him from this card altogether.

It wasn’t like they didn’t have fair notice – Magny was moved on August 22nd, a month ago, and so surely it would’ve been fairer for the UFC to either postpone Oliveira’s fight or at least find someone more suitable as an opponent. Instead Pedersoli was wildly overmatched and basically acted as a sacrificial victim.

It was PRIDE-style matchmaking – something the UFC doesn’t usually do – and while it did provide the show with another fun finish, it wasn’t fair to a young fighter in Pedersoli.