Jose Aldo was supposed to be facing Anthony Pettis at UFC 163. After a training injury forced Pettis out of the contest, “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung was moved into the main event slot.
It was a smart move by the UFC. Even if Jung had been out of action for an extended period of time, he remains a fan favorite and can be guaranteed to put on an exciting show.
That is until UFC 163.
“The Korean Zombie” looked timid and didn’t push the pace like he typically does. Instead of looking to launch his offensive flurries, Jung stood on the outside which allowed Aldo to get his range. The pace also allowed Aldo to maintain his offense without tiring in the later rounds.
Even the champion didn’t look himself as he was not displaying his trademark leg kicks. Apparently Aldo injured his foot after throwing the first kick, so Aldo gets a pass on not utilizing the leg kicks. Outside of that, Aldo actually showed a different area in his game as he used his grappling skills to take “The Korean Zombie” to the mat.
It looked as if Aldo was using a “wall and stall” type of attack in the later rounds, but he was still able to use his excellent head movement to avoid and counter much of what Jung was throwing. It looked as though Jung was ready to unleash the inner Zombie but once again fell into a conservative game plan in the fourth round.
At first I believed Jung wanted to start slow in order to let Aldo tire himself out, but he did nothing to make the champion exert himself. It became clearer that perhaps Jung simply froze while competing on the biggest stage in his career. Still, he should get props from any fan for taking a fight against the best featherweight in the world after sitting on the sidelines for so long and for how he handled the shoulder injury.
Jung’s shoulder injury was a terrible way for a fight to come to an end, but Aldo would’ve found his hand raised at the end if the fight had gone the same way it had been.
Considering fans were anticipating some wild striking exchanges, you could easily make the case for the fight being a bit disappointing. However, the fight was very telling about the champion, as he showed he’s not afraid to take the fight to the mat if it benefits him. Now fighters will have to worry about a takedown attempt rather than just his dangerous striking game.
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