Tag: Jose Aldo

UFC: Why the Korean Zombie Has Nothing for Jose Aldo

Jose Aldo, in many ways, is Anderson Silva, Jr. He’s a Brazilian UFC Champion with a black belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu, though he rarely needs to show off his ground game because of his superior stand-up skills, something he has proven in his…

Jose Aldo, in many ways, is Anderson Silva, Jr. He’s a Brazilian UFC Champion with a black belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu, though he rarely needs to show off his ground game because of his superior stand-up skills, something he has proven in his 11 fights with the WEC/UFC. 

He has defeated submission specialists, knockout artists and top-flight wrestlers with ease, successfully defending the WEC/UFC Featherweight Championship five times since knocking out Mike Brown to win the title in November of 2009.

“The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung will bring nothing to the table that Aldo has not already seen. Much like Anderson Silva, the person who defeats Jose Aldo will need a near perfect mix of wrestling skills, submission defense for when they do take Aldo down and enough stand-up power to keep Aldo guessing if only for a split-second so that he’s not defending take downs the whole fight.

Jung does not have the wrestling game that someone like Mike Brown, a high school state champion, or Urijah Faber, who wrestled at Division I University of California-Davis, possesses, and Aldo kept those fights on the feet, winning dominantly both times. 

Jung for all his supposed success, has been a very unpredictable, somewhat inconsistent fighter. He let his first fight under the Zuffa banner go the distance with Leonard Garcia despite Garcia constantly gassing himself out after Jung abandoned any sort of game plan and proceeded to engage in a 15-minute display of offense with “Bad Boy,” with the concept of defense not really existing after the first round of the fight. He then was knocked out by George Roop, who entered the fight with one career win by KO/TKO. Hes looked better in his last three fights, including highlight-reel finishes of Garcia and Mark Hominick, but Garcia and Hominick are not Jose Aldo.

For that matter, nobody at 145 pounds in the world is Jose Aldo, which is why it seems as if Aldo will be champion for a long time.

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Profiling UFC Champs: How Safe Are Their Belts in the Long Term?

Today’s pantheon of UFC champions is the most spectacular in company history. Each current champ possesses an elite, trademark skill. Each brings versatility to the octagon. Each has proven himself in the highly competitive arena of modern MMA. Ea…

Today’s pantheon of UFC champions is the most spectacular in company history. 

Each current champ possesses an elite, trademark skill. Each brings versatility to the octagon. Each has proven himself in the highly competitive arena of modern MMA. Each one, in their own way, is a badass. 

Some of 2012’s strap-holders have already asserted their dominance over many years—for example, Georges St.-Pierre has harnessed the welterweight belt since 2008. All of them, however, have the potential to reign over their weight class for a long time. Of them, who’s most likely to actualize prolonged dominance going forward?

Given the numerous strengths of each champion, predicting their futures requires inspecting other variables too, like the depth of their respective divisions and their age.

Here they are: power ranking the current champs based on the likelihood they will protect their titles for a long time. 

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Lamb to the Slaughter: Cody McKenzie vs. Chad Mendes Booked for UFC 148 in July


(You have no idea how right you are.) 

What in the name of Science is this bullshit? Fresh off a victory over Marcus LeVesseur at UFC on FUEL 3, it has been announced that the inventor of the deadliest guillotine choke known to man, TUF 12 veteran Cody McKenzie, will be making his featherweight debut at UFC 148, which transpires from the MGM Grand Garden Casino in Las Vegas on July 7th. Welcoming him to 145 lbs will be…Chad Mendes? Didn’t he just fight JOSE F’ING ALDO FOR THE F’ING TITLE?! Did McKenzie piss off Dana White, or is this Karma’s way of punishing him for making Josh Koscheck look like even more of a clown on the set of TUF 10? If it’s the latter, then Karma is a dick. A high school Letterman jacket wearing, clove cigarette smoking, man ass motorboating dick.

As we all know, McKenzie has won 11 of his 13 professional victories by way of his signature vice-grip like submission, aptly dubbed “The McKenzietine,” which has earned him a spot amongst the greatest one-trick ponies of all time. Mendes, on the other hand, has never been submitted, and is coming off the first blemish of his career, which came via brutal first round knockout to Aldo. Why it was decided that these two should face off is nothing short of baffling.


(You have no idea how right you are.) 

What in the name of Science is this bullshit? Fresh off a victory over Marcus LeVesseur at UFC on FUEL 3, it has been announced that the inventor of the deadliest guillotine choke known to man, TUF 12 veteran Cody McKenzie, will be making his featherweight debut at UFC 148, which transpires from the MGM Grand Garden Casino in Las Vegas on July 7th. Welcoming him to 145 lbs will be…Chad Mendes? Didn’t he just fight JOSE F’ING ALDO FOR THE F’ING TITLE?! Did McKenzie piss off Dana White, or is this Karma’s way of punishing him for making Josh Koscheck look like even more of a clown on the set of TUF 10? If it’s the latter, then Karma is a dick. A high school Letterman jacket wearing, clove cigarette smoking, man ass motorboating dick.

As we all know, McKenzie has won 11 of his 13 professional victories by way of his signature vice-grip like submission, aptly dubbed “The McKenzietine,” which has earned him a spot amongst the greatest one-trick ponies of all time. Mendes, on the other hand, has never been submitted, and is coming off the first blemish of his career, which came via brutal first round knockout to Aldo. Why it was decided that these two should face off is nothing short of baffling.

When assessing McKenzie’s performance after his career-saving win, we came to the conclusion that he “isn’t exactly ready for a huge step up in competition” and should face someone like Reza Madadi to see where he stands. Although dropping to 145 lbs. surely changes things up for him a bit, matching him against one of the most elite guys in the division for his debut seems a little harsh, don’t you think? Can you imagine how insane the odds are going to be for this fight when UFC 148 rolls around? Cyborg/Yamanaka insane would be our prediction.

And while we’re fantasizing, suppose McKenzie somehow manages to choke Mendes into next week, what does the UFC do with him then? If Erik Koch can earn a title shot with a win over Jonathan Brookins a year ago, #RallyforMcKenzie campaigns are going to be popping up on the Twitter accounts of every Deadliest Catch and Ice Road Truckers cast-member overnight. Tins of Grizzly chewing tobacco are going to quadruple in value, and children are going to start guillotining each other on playgrounds across the nation. It will be complete and utter chaos. Sean Shelby, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!!

The full lineup for UFC 148 (minus some changes that we will be made aware of this evening) lies below.

Preliminary Card:
Melvin Guillard vs. Fabricio Camoes
Gleison Tibau vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov
Shane Roller vs. John Alessio
Riki Fukuda vs. Constantinos Philippou
Chad Mendes vs. Cody McKenzie
TBD Renan Barao vs. Ivan Menjivar

Main Card:
Demian Maia vs. Dong Hyun Kim
Rich Franklin vs. Cung Le
Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin
Urijah Faber vs. TBD *cough* Renan Barao *cough*
Chael Sonnen vs. Anderson Silva

–J. Jones

Early Breakdown of Jose Aldo vs. Chan Sung Jung

With an impressive win over Dustin Poirier, Chan Sung Jung has made quite the statement for himself in the Featherweight division of the UFC. Now on a three-fight win streak, “The Korean Zombie” has his sights set on taking out Jose Aldo, t…

With an impressive win over Dustin Poirier, Chan Sung Jung has made quite the statement for himself in the Featherweight division of the UFC. Now on a three-fight win streak, “The Korean Zombie” has his sights set on taking out Jose Aldo, the current 145 lbs champ. 

This is not only his third win in a row, but his third impressive win. The first was the UFC’s first ever Twister submission, and the second was the second-fastest knockout in the UFC’s history. To top it off, he now has added a D’arce choke following an incredible battle with Poirier. 

Jose Aldo will be facing Erik Koch at UFC 149, so in order for this matchup to happen, Aldo must retain his title against Koch, who is riding a four-fight win streak. Since it is hard to bet against the champ, especially Aldo, let’s assume he keeps his belt for this purpose. 

In the blue corner you have Jung, who has shown his dynamic and diverse set of skills and is willing to put everything he has into his fights. He is great on the ground, and does not mind slugging it out on the feet. Appropriately nicknamed “The Korean Zombie”, Jung will take punishment and keep pressing forward. While his style is sluggish at time, it creates an unorthodox style that is not typically expected. 

In the red corner you have Aldo, who has proven time and time again his athleticism and explosive strikes. His leg kicks are lethal, and he is quick to throw unorthodox strikes himself. While he is a black belt in BJJ, he has not needed to use his ground game too often. Most of his finishes come by way of his hands or knees. Ranked high in the pound-for-pound lists, Aldo reigns supreme over his division and has shown very little sign of losing his belt anytime soon. 

Jung may have not yet faced an opponent like Aldo, but his unique style and versatility could pose a problem for Aldo. Typically, the technique would win, but having an opponent that does not fight like everyone else, sometimes can cause issues for even the best of fighters. It is like when you play a video game you are very good at and the person you are playing against is so non-technical, it actually works for them a little. 

If Jung can get this fight to the ground, he is clever and quick enough to find a submission. If this stays on the feet, Jung could very well have a short night. Jung has been knocked out cold from a vicious head kick before, and that was an experience that had him rethinking his life path. One thing is almost certain, and that’s you will probably see some knees thrown in this fight. Flying knees are no stranger to either man’s repertoire, and doing so quickly. 

This fight will be an interesting style matchup, since while both are technical, but Jung is in a much more relaxed and awkward way. Aldo will want to use his quickness and legs for this matchup, and Jung will look to get in close and take him down. If this fight does get made, it will be a big seller, since both men are very popular and very talented. This fight has tremendous “fight of the night” potential.

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UFC on Fuel 3 Results: Head-to-Toe Breakdown of Jose Aldo vs. Chan-Sung Jung

Chan-Sung Jung’s surprising win over Dustin Poirier has thrown him directly in line for a championship match against Jose Aldo. He’s gone 3-for-3 in his UFC career and has notched up two Submissions of the Night, one Submission of the Year,…

Chan-Sung Jung’s surprising win over Dustin Poirier has thrown him directly in line for a championship match against Jose Aldo.

He’s gone 3-for-3 in his UFC career and has notched up two Submissions of the Night, one Submission of the Year, one Knockout of the Night and a Fight of the Night along the way.

He’s the most exciting MMA talent to ever come out of South Korea, but if he is pitted against Jose Aldo, he’ll be facing the man some consider the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

Here’s how the match between the two could go down.

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Korean Zombie Defeats Dustin Poirier: Is Jose Aldo Next?

It was meant to be a fight that would launch the 23-year-old featherweight Dustin Poirier into a title shot, but instead became a showcase for the scintillating talent of the man they call The Korean Zombie: Chan-Sung Jung. In what could go down as the…

It was meant to be a fight that would launch the 23-year-old featherweight Dustin Poirier into a title shot, but instead became a showcase for the scintillating talent of the man they call The Korean Zombie: Chan-Sung Jung.

In what could go down as the fight of the year, the main card of the UFC on Fuel 3 event delivered almost four rounds of nonstop action last night, as Chan-Sung bested rising star Poirier in all aspects of the game.

There are questions whether The Korean Zombie, so reckless in his relentless march forward, dropped a round in the third, but there are no questions over the powerful strikes that set up a beautiful transition to a D’Arce choke, which finally submitted Poirier in one minute, seven seconds of the fourth round.

Poirier was a slight favourite going into the match, and the youngster was already itching for a title shot against the man many consider the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world—Jose Aldo. Those thoughts are now fixed on Chan-Sung instead, who is now 3-0 in his UFC career.

The Korean makes a strong case for title contention. In his first two matches for the promotion, he secured the submission of the night, the knockout of the night and may have been in the fight of the year last night.

With a slight reach advantage, Poirier was supposed to be his superior in the striking game. At many times throughout the match, his pinpoint striking reflected this. But Chan-Sung was easily his equal, landing powerful short uppercuts and devastating knees, which outdid the young Louisiana native.

On the ground his skills were unmatched. Transitioning from takedown to ground-and-pound to submission with eye-watering ease, he left Poirier looking confused and out of place.

However, whether the fighter we saw against Poirier last night is ready for Aldo is another matter. Chan-Sung takes his nickname from the zombie-like way he moves forward despite taking shots. That “habit” of his was on display again against Poirier, as he left himself exposed and open to Poirier’s striking.

He may have gotten away with it last night, but against a clinical Muay Thai expert like Aldo, that tactic may prove his undoing.

Aldo has also shown himself to be almost impossible to take down. In his last fight against Chad Mendes, who many would consider the best wrestler in the division, Aldo stood resolutely on his feet, finishing his opponent in the first round.

And on his feet is where Aldo is most devastating, finishing eight of his last 11 fights by KO or TKO.

Aldo is set to take on Erik Koch on July 21 at UFC 149 in Calgary, Canada, where he’ll be the heavy favourite. After Koch, there are not many names that leap out as the obvious next fight for the Brazilian. Chan-Sung’s recent performance has surely staked his claim for a title shot. But he’ll have to iron out the kinks in his stand-up game if he hopes to become UFC Featherweight Champion.

 

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