–After UFC on Fuel TV 3, no one is allowed to claim that Chan Sung Jung’s career arc has more to do with entertainment than fighting. His first fight with Leonard Garcia was legendary and his nickname might be the best ever. But those things are now overshadowed by his arrival at the highest level of the 145 pound division. The UFC recognized this and he has been given the opportunity to fight the winner of the upcoming championship bout between Jose Aldo and Eric Koch. After his knockout loss to George Roop, he said he was adjusting his style and last night was further evidence of that transition. His striking is still aggressive and tends to come in brawling flurries but he times those flurries and doesn’t stay in the pocket waiting to be countered. His unorthodox ground game is becoming one of the best in the division. And as Kenny Florian mentioned on the Fuel TV broadcast, he looks to finish with every move. Every strike has finishing power. Every movement on the ground is an attempt to lock on a submission. Whether he has the technique to compete with a top three pound for pound fighter like Aldo is still unknown but he has earned the opportunity to prove that he does. And based on his growth over his past few fights, he’s making it increasingly difficult to pick against him.
–On the opposite end of the spectrum is Dustin Poirier. He’s the prospect with overwhelming potential who was supposed to earn his first title shot. He’s the twenty three year who was handed a golden opportunity on a silver platter. And for the first time in the octagon, he was the loser. Poirier was emotional and disappointed after the fight, which is an appropriate response from a young man who lost the biggest fight of his life. But the great thing about being twenty three years old is that he has plenty of time to have a career full of fights much bigger than the one against Jung. Some will argue that this was a blessing in disguise because it will give him more time to develop without having to face the pressure of a title fight. But that isn’t true. It would have been better for him to win. It would be better to have a title shot early and feel what the best in the world have to offer. But that moment has passed. He’s on a different course now and he’ll have to work harder to get that first title shot. Based on what he’s shown thus far, does anyone think he won’t?
–Donald Cerrone is awesome. If anyone was looking for a training video on how to finish combinations with leg kicks, he just provided it. Jeremy Stephens is a highly respected fighter but Cerrone outclassed him badly. A weaker fighter might have been finished by Cerrone’s leg kicks but Stephens showed his heart by staying in the fight. That said, his left leg might have something to say to his heart because I can’t even imagine what it looked like after the fight.
–Judging in MMA is still an issue. This becomes especially apparent when the sport leaves its strongholds like Nevada and California. Amir Sadollah’s victory in particular was questionable. We don’t know how the judges scored the fight other than their totals but one would have to suspect that Lopez won the first round and Sadollah the second. Neither fighter was dominant enough to be overly upset about the decision but I scored the third round in favor of Lopez and thought he was the better fighter on the night. When one considers the mystery stand up by the referee at the end of the final round, Lopez’ case gets even stronger. But that wasn’t the only time the judging was brought into question. Both Brad Tavares and Igor Pokrajac received favorable scoring. I scored the Tavares fight in favor of his opponent, Dongi Yang and based on the reaction to the scoring, a large portion of the crowd had an issue with it as well. The fight between Pokrajac and Fabio Maldonado was another close fight and I’m surprised none of the judges scored the bout 29-28 for Maldonado as I did. While I don’t think anyone can have a major issue with a 29-28 Pokrajac score because the first round was so close, I do think the judge who scored the fight 30-27 showed a fundamental lack of understanding on how to score the sport because Maldonado clearly won the second round. That kind of mistake should not be made at this level of the sport.
-Alan Wells