Is there anything that UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo can’t do in the Octagon?
On paper, it appeared that the champion’s latest challenger, Chan Sung Jung, could at least make it an interesting fight if he was able to take it to the ground.
“The Korean Zombie” hadn’t been taken down in his last five fights, according to FightMetric, and was known for possessing an aggressive ground game. Heading into the fight, you had to think there was at least a small chance he could stun the champion with something crazy like the Twister that he put on Leonard Garcia at UFC Fight Night 24.
So what did Aldo do?
He willingly took the fight to the ground. According to ESPN Stats & Info, the renowned striker attempted six takedowns and landed five of them. That’s not a bad success rate going against a fighter who had never been taken down in his UFC career.
Ultimately, it wasn’t Aldo’s fancy ground work that won him the fight, though. Jung suffered an apparent separated shoulder in the fourth round, and the champion pounced with some impressive strikes to put “The Korean Zombie” away, as Jeremy Botter of Bleacher Report summed up in this tweet:
Aldo’s performance was surprising yet familiar at the same time. With no losses in eight years and seven consecutive title defenses reaching back to his days in WEC, we’re used to seeing him dominate whoever is placed in front of him.
But we’ve never seen him utilize the grappling aspect of his game so heavily. That’s a scary development for the rest of the featherweight division.
Aldo has always been one of those fighters who receives rave reviews for his jiu-jitsu but rarely puts it on display when fight time comes. With his win over Jung, he showed that he’s not only the most feared striker in the division but can grapple with just about anyone as well.
Unseating the champion just became even more difficult after watching him dismantle yet another top contender at featherweight.
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