UFC on Fuel TV 3 is in the books and with it some big changes in the UFC landscape. Donald Cerrone rebounded from his fight with Nate Diaz with a fantastic performance against Jeremy Stephens and Chan Sung Jung secured a title shot with his win over Dustin Poirier.
With that being said, let’s grade the performances of all the main card fighters.
A+
Chan Sung Jung: Seriously, did anyone think that Jung would look that good against Dustin Poirier? I didn’t. I thought that Poirier would truck him. Ooops…That was the best we’ve seen Jung look in the UFC as he was able to beat Poirier in every aspect of a fight. I still worry that he’s taking too many punches, since you can’t let Jose Aldo hit you too much. But tonight, he had the best fight of his career.
Donald Cerrone: I worried that the loss to Nate Diaz would have “broken” him as a fighter. Not that he’d be tentative, but that he wouldn’t fight his fights and instead try and adopt a “safe” game plan. Nope! He looked the best he has ever looked and put on a muay thai clinic. He looked like he was having fun in the cage and he absolutely dominated Jeremy Stephens. I’d love to see him against the winner of Guida/Maynard.
A-
Tom Lawlor: Happy Birthday, Tom Lawlor. You picked up a much needed win and did it in dominant fashion. Solid wrestling and solid submissions. I feel like if you just focused 100 percent on the fight, you wouldn’t be half bad. Think about it.
B+
Igor Pokrajac: He looked good on the ground and even better on his feet. He landed cleanly on Maldonado and had him hurt multiple times. It was a great performance and he picked up a nice win.
Yves Jabouin: I’m surprised that he threw so many spinning combinations, but man did he have Hougland beat multiple times. In my eyes, if you kick someone in the stomach and they go down and don’t want to get up, that’s a win.
B
Fabio Maldonado: I was very impressed by his boxing and the bodywork was gorgeous. The big problem for Maldonado is that he took a lot of damage and spent the majority of the first round on his back. Still, a solid performance, and hopefully judges will start recognizing his fighting style.
C-
Jorge Lopez: I thought he won the fight. I wasn’t impressed by him or Amir. This wasn’t good. Not good at all.
Amir Sadollah: Amir looked terrible tonight and super tentative. Those guillotines were nice but weren’t enough to keep the audience interested. Nice win, I guess?
C-
Dustin Poirier: I was surprised at Dustin’s performance tonight and thought he looked tentative. He let Jung land on him too much and didn’t fight his fight. I wish I knew why because I love watching him fight. Hopefully he rebounds and goes back to his old style.
Jeremy Stephens: Dunno what was up with Jeremy Stephens, but he looked terrible. He never found his range and took a lot of damage from Donald Cerrone. Some of those body shots were good, I guess? I dunno what else to say, it was such a dominant performance by Cerrone.
F:
Jeff Hougland: Black belt in jiu-jitsu decides to kick box with a kick boxer? What was he thinking? Seriously, what? Awful, terrible, no good, very bad performance.
Jason MacDonald: Not the way I suspect he wanted to retire, but this was the worst he’s ever looked in the UFC. Good luck in retirement.
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