Author: Matthew Hemphill

The Winner of Dustin Poirier and Chan Sung Jung Must Be Next for Jose Aldo

When the winner of the Dustin Poirier and Chan Sung Jung bout emerges from the third UFC on Fuel TV card on May 15, they will have earned the right to face Jose Aldo for the featherweight title.The two men are exciting to watch and they both have been …

When the winner of the Dustin Poirier and Chan Sung Jung bout emerges from the third UFC on Fuel TV card on May 15, they will have earned the right to face Jose Aldo for the featherweight title.

The two men are exciting to watch and they both have been defeating competition in highlight reel fashion. The only thing that could stop them is if there was someone else who had a larger following than they did or had been on a roll.

There isn’t. Aldo has run through every popular fighter and veteran that has competed at featherweight and lay claim to being the top contender. Whoever wins the fight between Jung and Poirier would be the best bet at giving him a tough fight or at the very least intriguing fans with the matchup.

The biggest potential selling point for a fight between Aldo and the victor boils down to how the fight between Jung and Poirier plays out. If both men have an unconventionally “boring” match which is technically sound, but short on fireworks, then the UFC may look somewhere else.

For someone like Chan Sung Jung who has earned the nickname “the Korean Zombie,” that doesn’t seem likely. In his last fight he was able to knock out former challenger Mark Hominick in seven seconds and the fight before that saw him face Leonard Garcia in a rematch from their 2009 Fight of the Year bout.

It ended with Jung getting the first ever twister submission in MMA history.

Poirier may not have those accolades on his resume, but he did win Submission of the Night in his last fight by getting an armbar from the mount position against Max Holloway. While he doesn’t have any other prizes to his credit, he has always made memorable matches that left fans cheering.

If both men can put on a fight that gets fans talking, the winner will be at the top of the list to face Aldo.

While neither man is as fast or technically sharp as the champion, they make thrilling fights and generate interest in their bouts.

Poirier and Jung are also both unpredictable. From Jung’s twister to Poirier’s armbar from the mount, both men are willing to come up with variations to the norm and take the risks needed to perform them. In MMA that can be the deciding factor between getting beaten and winning.

It will also get fans wondering if Jung or Poirier have what it takes to beat the champ.

After both men face each other, fans will get to know who the better risk-taker is and who will give Aldo the tougher fight.

After that, it’s up to the UFC to make the fight.

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UFC on FOX 4: 10 Fights We Want to See in Los Angeles

The fourth UFC card on FOX has just been set in California, but no fights have been made as of yet. While different matches could be made based off of events unaired, including UFC 144 which takes place this Saturday, it’s always fun to imagine.So…

The fourth UFC card on FOX has just been set in California, but no fights have been made as of yet. While different matches could be made based off of events unaired, including UFC 144 which takes place this Saturday, it’s always fun to imagine.

Some of these fights include Californians who could bring fans to the fights while others would do just as well anywhere in the world.

Each fight pits different styles against each other and carries varying implications for the fighters involved, but all of them would do well on TV. Whether it would be a main event or the first televised fight, these are 10 bouts worth seeing on the UFC on FOX 4 card in August.

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Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin: Why Both Need to Retire After Their Third Fight

Forrest Griffin and Tito Ortiz are two fighters who are so faded that they should only be facing each other. They are still exciting to watch, but as for being competitive in the UFC, their time has passed.They have put on great scraps before…

Forrest Griffin and Tito Ortiz are two fighters who are so faded that they should only be facing each other. They are still exciting to watch, but as for being competitive in the UFC, their time has passed.

They have put on great scraps before, and according to an article by MMATorch they are headed for a third showdown in mid-2012.

It is the perfect opportunity for both men to find whatever passion they have left for the sport and put it on the line for their third fight. After that they need to walk off into the sunset.

Griffin and Ortiz are fighters that fans remember from another era in MMA. Ortiz was a star back when the sport was just getting out of its “anything goes” days, and Griffin is best known for winning The Ultimate Fighter’s inaugural season and winning the UFC light heavyweight title from Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.

Both of the things mentioned are several years old, if not closing in on a decade. Each man is at the end of his competitive rope for very different reasons.

For Ortiz, it is time to exit the sport. He is 37, and while he can upset fighters like Ryan Bader, who he choked out at UFC 142, he is badly faded and prone to injury. He just doesn’t have the youth to keep beating back the younger men he faces consistently.

Griffin faces a different obstacle. His problem is that his heart isn’t in it anymore. At 32 years old he is burnt out.

In an interview with heavy.com, Griffin stated that he wanted to fight until 33 and then retire. You can’t be a fighter and have an exit strategy. Not when the essence of fighting is finding out who the best in the world is.

Fans can’t fault Griffin for wanting to quit or Ortiz for wanting to continue.

In Griffin’s case, he has fought in so many grueling battles that it has to have taken a mental toll. One that as he has gotten older and wealthier seems foolish.

Ortiz’s affliction is one that is seen more often in fighting. His career is ending, but his life is not even half over. At 37 he is ancient for sports, but in terms of human life he is young. Fighting is all he has done and all he knows. To move on means leaving it and doing something else with less passion and understanding.

It means retiring when most people are just starting to hit their stride. At 37 it is the ultimate mid-life crisis.

Griffin and Ortiz have given immensely to the sport of MMA and both face uncertain futures after their time in the cage. The fight between the two isn’t just the end of a trilogy, it’s the end of two brilliant careers and the fighters who made them.

There just isn’t anything left for them to give after a third match with each other. The only things they could offer fans by continuing to fight is diminished skills and slower reflexes.

They deserve better than that.

That is why whenever they do meet once again, fans should tune in and watch.

Not just to see a great fight, but to say goodbye to two fighters who deserve it.

 

Matthew Hemphill writes for the MMA and professional wrestling portion of Bleacher Report.  He also hosts a blog elbaexiled.blogspot.com that focuses on books, music, comic books, video games, film and generally anything that could be related to the realms of nerdom.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 144: Is Frankie Edgar Able to Withstand a Slow Start vs. Benson Henderson?

Frankie Edgar is a slow starter. It almost cost him the title when he fought Gray Maynard and it could end his title run when he faces Benson Henderson at UFC 144.If Frankie Edgar didn’t have one of the toughest chins in MMA today, there is a chance th…

Frankie Edgar is a slow starter. It almost cost him the title when he fought Gray Maynard and it could end his title run when he faces Benson Henderson at UFC 144.

If Frankie Edgar didn’t have one of the toughest chins in MMA today, there is a chance that fans would be talking about how Gray Maynard knocked him out in the first round.

Edgar was almost knocked out in the first round both times they fought for the title. Edgar was able to rally back from near defeat, though it cost him a decision win in their first championship encounter. Instead of getting a tight win, Edgar had to settle for a draw.

Even as far back as his fight with Matt Veach, Edgar has had a problem with coming out strong in the first round. He keeps being defensive and only after feeling out his opponent does he start to go on the attack.

It is a great tactic because it allows Edgar to understand his opponents’ strengths and weaknesses while costing him a round at most. In three-round fights, it is a dangerous, but in title fights which are five rounds, it makes more sense.

The only flaw to it is when Edgar faces an energetic opponent who doesn’t slow down. The champion is undersized for the lightweight division so he has always relied on speed and better conditioning.

That is going to change on Saturday when he faces Henderson. 

Henderson has not only competed in five-round title fights before, he started out fighting them at a breakneck pace. This is a man who was able to go three rounds with Clay Guida and win while fighting Guida’s kind of fight.

He also went five rounds with Donald Cerrone in WEC and was able to move from ground fighting to striking in a matter of seconds. He doesn’t have a feeling out mode and losing even one round to him could cost Edgar the decision.

He can fight at the same speed Edgar does and do it for all five rounds. Throw in the fact that Henderson is taller and a better striker, and it could spell disaster for the lightweight champion.

Henderson is also driven in a way that only a man who was a champion before can be. He knows what it is like to be on top of the mountain and that motivates him even more. He has the chance to prove that he is the best, and unlike the WEC, it will be for the title of best in the world.

Edgar doesn’t need to match the tempo that Henderson sets in his fights, but he does need to neutralize it. He can’t let Henderson get even one round in the books. The rest of the fight is going to be hard enough to win, losing one fifth of it on purpose is something he should avoid.

If he chooses to ignore the danger of letting his opponent take the first round, it may lead to Henderson taking the belt as well.

And Edgar would have no one to blame but himself.

 

Matthew Hemphill writes for the MMA and professional wrestling portion of Bleacher Report.  He also hosts a blog elbaexiled.blogspot.com that focuses on books, music, comic books, video games, film and generally anything that could be related to the realms of nerdom.


Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

10 Reasons You Can’t Miss UFC 144

The UFC is finally back in the land of the rising sun, and UFC 144 is packed with Japanese talent and martial artists who are known for making explosive fights.It is the UFC’s long-awaited return to Japan, and that means that the card has been loaded u…

The UFC is finally back in the land of the rising sun, and UFC 144 is packed with Japanese talent and martial artists who are known for making explosive fights.

It is the UFC’s long-awaited return to Japan, and that means that the card has been loaded up in order to make a good impression.

Between the impact that this card could have on the company’s immediate future in Japan and the fighters and bouts placed on it, the card should be one of the best of the year and a great start to UFC’s foray into Japan.

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UFC 144: 4 Reasons Rampage Should Retire, Win or Lose After Ryan Bader

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson is finally returning to Japan and fighting in what could be considered home when talking about his MMA career.It is only fitting that he is on the card, and when he does finish the fight against Ryan Bader at UFC 144, he needs…

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson is finally returning to Japan and fighting in what could be considered home when talking about his MMA career.

It is only fitting that he is on the card, and when he does finish the fight against Ryan Bader at UFC 144, he needs to call it a career. Jackson is a lock for the UFC Hall of Fame and has had an incredible career.

He was able to unify the Pride and UFC title when he beat Dan Henderson and knocked out Chuck Liddell in the UFC in their rematch.

Still, he isn’t the fighter he once was, and while he is still in his physical prime there are several factors which point to this being the perfect time for him to bow out.

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