With his victory over Dustin Poirier last night at UFC on Fuel TV 3, Chan Sung Jung established himself as an elite fighter in the 135 pound division. He didn’t turn the fight into an impossible to score brawl. He didn’t catch Poirier with an early punch. He was clearly the better fighter from the opening bell until the fourth round when he finished with a D’arce choke after dropping Poirier with an uppercut followed by a flying knee. Poirier did well with his jab and may have won the third round with it but Jung was always the more dangerous fighter and never seemed to be in any danger. The only weakness Jung showed was in his stamina as he appeared to tire toward the end of the third round. He mentioned before the fight that he struggled with the weight cut. He and his team will need to figure out a way to improve on that process to allow him to maximize his stamina for five round fights in the future. But aside from that, his performance makes it impossible to consider him as anything other than one of the top featherweights in the world. The win puts him no more than one fight away from a title shot and at the moment, he looks to be one of the few fighters in the division willing to face Jose Aldo. Jung now has consecutive victories over top ten featherweights in Mark Hominick and Poirier and adding that to his entertainment value and marketability makes him the most likely candidate to face Aldo, provided he defeats Eric Koch at UFC 149 in July.
Donald Cerrone didn’t have to prove that he was one of the best in the world in his weight class because we already knew he was. But he did remind us just in case we had forgotten by dominating Jeremy Stephens for fifteen minutes. By the second round, Cerrone seemed to be playing with Stephens and treating the fight more like a sparring match. He used his kicks to maintain his reach advantage and Stephens was never able to close the distance enough to land punches. Cerrone repeatedly battered his opponent with punching combinations punctuated with brutal leg kicks. By the third round, he was even able to land a knockdown with a low kick. Stephens hung in the fight and continued to throw punches, which if they landed, could have done some damage. But he couldn’t get inside Cerrone’s reach and often led himself into counter knees to the body. Cerrone belongs in the title discussion but with Benson Henderson and Frankie Edgar scheduled to fight in August and Nate Diaz already next in line, Cerrone is going to have to continue to fight through the absurd gauntlet of the UFC lightweight division if he wants a shot at the belt.
In other action on the card, Amir Sadollah earned a win with a questionable split decision over Jorge Lopez. Neither fighter was overly impressive and both had chances to assert themselves and earn a clear victory. Because they did not, the judges were left with a difficult fight to score and in that scenario, the fighters have only themselves to blame if they lose. Lopez won the first round and Sadollah the second with the third being the round in question. Two of the judges gave it to Sadollah based on his striking in the middle of the round and that was enough to earn him the win. Despite the win, Sadollah will need to bring more to the cage in his next fight if he hopes to fulfill his promise as an Ultimate Fighter winner.
Yves Jabouin dominated Jeff Hougland and did everything except finish the fight. Hougland showed a strong heart and could have allowed the fight to be stopped multiple times but forced to Jabouin to earn the stoppage, which Jabouin was unable to do. Jabouin dropped Hougland in the first round with a spinning back kick to the body but was unable to finish. He repeated the feat in the third round with a left hand to the jaw but once again, Hougland fought through and got back to his feet. Basically, Jabouin did exactly what one would expect from him when facing an overmatched opponent.
In the slugfest of the night, Igor Pokrajac defeated Fabio Maldonado via unanimous decision. Pokrajac showed growth building on his knockout of Krzysztof Soszynski. He made the fight competitive on the feet landing knees from the clinch and punches on the outside. When necessary, he mixed in takedowns and controlled Maldonado on the ground. Had he simply taken Maldonado down and kept the fight on the ground, the fight would not have been nearly as close. His willingness to stand with a professional boxer could have cost him the fight but he managed to absorb the punishment and earn the victory.
In the main card opener, Tom Lawlor knocked out Jason MacDonald early in the first round. Both fighters started aggressively with MacDonald shooting for a takedown. Lawlor stuffed it and landed a left hand to the chin, a right to the temple, another right on the ground and the fight was over. The knockout gave Lawlor a much needed win and an opportunity to build some momentum going forward.
– Alan Wells
UFC on Fuel TV 3- Post-Fight Recap
With his victory over Dustin Poirier last night at UFC on Fuel TV 3, Chan Sung Jung established himself as an elite fighter in the 135 pound division. He didn’t turn the fight into an.
