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UFC Busan was a pretty fun card overall.
Chan Sung Jung’s original opponent wasn’t supposed to be Frankie Edgar, but the turn of events led to The Korean Zombie adding the biggest name so far on his resume. Getting a rare chance to fight in his home country, Jung just absolutely ran through Edgar, hurting and dropping him multiple times en-route to a first round TKO finish.
The referee gave Edgar every chance to recover, but Jung was just too strong and too good, handing the former UFC champion just his second stoppage loss in his career.
Ortega may have been slightly higher ranked, but Edgar is certainly the more recognizable name opponent so this massive win could probably do more to advance Jung’s career. Shortly after beating the number 4 ranked featherweight, Korean Zombie called for a title shot against the newly crowned champion in Alexander Volkanovski.
I’m not sure if he’ll get that, especially if they really plan to book an immediate rematch with Holloway, but I’ll never fault someone for shooting his shot after a big win like that.
- In the co-main event, Volkan Oezdemir derailed the title hopes of Aleksandar Rakic, chopping that leg and swelling it up badly en route to another split decision. People have been hyping up Rakic, but Oezdemir put a halt to that in a very close fight, and now has two nice back-to-back wins at light heavyweight.
- Korean Superboy Doo Ho Choi can’t leave the country since he has an incoming stint with the military, so when the UFC went to Busan, it was by chance that he managed to get one more fight in before going on hiatus. We’re unlikely to see him for the next couple of years, but as he’s been known for, win or lose the fan favorite still put on quite a (violent) show.
Choi and Charles Jourdain put on pretty much a late entry for round-of-the-year, throwing wild shots and jumping strikes, with each scoring big knockdowns in the first round. In the second round, they continued pushing forward with reckless abandon. Both fighters were landing big, until Jourdain managed to drop Choi again, but this time for good.
Hopefully Jourdain gets a bonus and that this big win jump starts his career, because as the UFC fighter admitted while pleading to Dana White, he’s still living in his parent’s basement.
- Da Un Jong emphatically went 2-0 in the UFC, with the light heavyweight prospect winning with a quick and brutal KO over Mike Rodriguez.
- Kyung Ho Kang didn’t churn out the most impressive outing, but he managed to win and go 3-0 in 2019 so far (4-1 since his hiatus due to Korean military service). He was a wet blanket for most of the contest, and his opponent Pingyuan Liu was too content to stay at the bottom. The Chinese fighter managed to land some strikes, but was it wasn’t surprising to see the judges award the win to the man on top.
- On the “featured prelim” slot, Cyril Gane continued to impress and showcased the improvements he’s been making in his young MMA career. The French striker looked very fluid and mobile on the feet as he picked apart a much more experienced opponent in Tanner Boser. Gane showed a combination of dangerous striking, plus great movement and cardio that is pretty rare in the heavyweight division. He improves to 6-0 and remains the prospect to watch at heavyweight.
- Alexandre Pantoja and Matt Schnell put on a show in the prelims, coming out of the gates just both throwing everything they could possibly throw at each other. Pantoja eventually landed a big right hand as Schnell was coming in, and he put him out cold with a pretty nasty faceplant finish.
- Not sure about the 30-27 score, but Raoni Barcelos beat Said Nurmagomedov in a very close and entertaining bout earlier in the prelims. Nurmagomedov had flash, and constantly threw spinning strikes like his teammate Zabit, but Barcelos was more accurate and more efficient for the most part.
- Koreans went 5-2 on the card.