Is Chan Sung Jung A Threat To Jose Aldo?

nullJust a matter of a week ago, it seemed as if there were no real threats to UFC Featherweight Champion, Jose Aldo.

Aldo has seemingly cleaned out the division and is now preparing to face Erik Koch at UFC 149 later this year.

But, on Tuesday, some light may have been shed on the featherweight tunnel.

Chan Sung Jung put on the best performance of his career in a fourth-round submission win over Dustin Poirier.

Long thought of as just a bit of a novelty act, Jung had made a name for himself for being able to take a beating and keep coming forward, hence the name “The Korean Zombie”. Nobody really thought of him as a legit title contender.

But, on Tuesday night in the main event of UFC on Fuel TV 3, Jung showed great all-around skills and some of the slickest jiu-jitsu I have seen in a fight in quite sometime.

Jung had tremendous transitions, great execution, and he also mixed up his striking to include leg kicks and knees. It was clear that Jung has improved a great deal since joining the UFC, where he is now 3-0.

While he still needs to keep improving to beat the likes of Aldo, he does present one thing that Aldo’s opponents haven’t seemed to possess, and that is the ability to press the action.

Most of Aldo’s opponents have been very tentative against the champion and have tried to react to what Aldo does as opposed to making him react to what they do.

That won’t be an issue with Jung. He is going to fall on his sword and go with his style, win or lose. I think he could possess a real threat to Aldo because he will be able to eat some punches and kicks and keep coming forward. If the fight goes to the ground, it is hard to see anyone really out-working Jung.

Kenny Florian may have put it best on the broadcast when he said Jung “is always throwing finishing moves at you.” All of his strikes have the intent to end the fight and on the ground, he is always pursuing a submission. He doesn’t give his opponents a chance to relax.

The one area Jung may need to improve is his conditioning, but he will have a while to do that before facing Aldo. I think fans would get behind an Aldo vs. Jung bout as well, at least a lot more than Aldo vs. Koch.

  

Top 10 Featherweight Rankings

nullThe rankings schedule has made it way back to featherweight.

Not too much has changed in the division since I last came out with my 145-pound top 10, but we did have some debuts and a mild upset or too.

Here is a look at my latest top 10 for the featherweight division.

1. Jose Aldo (19-1) – Aldo is the champion and awaits his next opponent. It looks to be Kenny Florian, but a date and location have yet to be set. Aldo showed some signs of vulnerability against Mark Hominick, but still dominated a great deal of their 25-minute fight. Florian will need to be on top of his game to take Aldo’s title.

2. Chad Mendes (10-0) – The wrestling master has been labeled the No. 1 contender for Aldo, but he opted not to wait for the champion to heal up with some injuries and will now take on Rani Yahya at UFC 133, with his title shot on the line. Mendes likely has the grappling edge in this one, but will have to avoid the slick submissions of Yahya.

3. Kenny Florian (14-5) – Florian won his featherweight debut over Diego Nunes and now appears to be in line for a title shot. Florian didn’t look his best, but the first fight at a lower weight class is always the toughest. Florian will have a strong game plan to fight Aldo, the question will be if he can execute it?

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Are Kenny Florian’s Elbows Too Dangerous?

nullIt isn’t uncommon to see a fighter get bloodied up in the octagon, especially when they are fighting Kenny Florian.

The UFC veteran has opened up many a fighter with his razor-sharp elbows, including his latest opponent, Diego Nunes, at UFC 131.

With the Florian vs. Nunes fight long overweight, the Nunes camp is now calling for Florian’s elbows to be looked at, according to Tatame.

Coach of Diego Nunes and head-coach of Nova Uniao, Andre Pederneiras assigned his student’s loss to Kenny Florian, in UFC 131, to the blood loss during the combat.

“Those elbows, the way I see it, for where they hit him, should be reanalyzed… I’m not taking Kenny Florian’s credits for the win, not at all, but I took some pictures of Diego’s head, and I want to send it to UFC, asking them if those spots are legal. I don’t want them to change the result of the fight, because Florian was better and earned it, but I want to know if it’s legal so that I can tell my students to do it. Sometimes the rules change and we lose a fight for a silly detail”, said Andre, who complimented the Brazilian fighter, but commented on his mistakes.

Florian has stopped a few fights in his career from elbows, but all is within the rules.

Should the UFC take another look at their rules, or is this just crying over spilled milk?

What’s your take on deadly elbows?

  

UFC 131 Results & Review – Dos Santos A Legit Threat To Velasquez

nullJunior dos Santos was the No. 1 contender to the UFC heavyweight title coming into UFC 131, and he is still the No. 1 contender after UFC 131.

The 26-year-old heavyweight improved to 13-1 with a unanimous decision victory over Shane Carwin on Saturday, dominating the entire fight. Dos Santos’ reach proved to be a big factor as Carwin struggled to get inside Junior and dos Santos also showed impressive takedown defense to keep the fight standing.

In the first round, Carwin was nearly finished (and I personally would have stopped the fight) as he took a barrage of strikes from Junior that left him a bloody mess, but he managed to survive and last all 15 minutes.

Dos Santos looked as good as I have ever seen him and he appears to be a legit threat to UFC heavyweight champ, Cain Velasquez.

The co-main event saw Kenny Florian successfully make his featherweight debut by beating Diego Nunes by unanimous decision. Florian lost the first round on two scorecards but bounced back by controlling a tired Nunes for the final 10 minutes.

The other big win of the night came for Mark Munoz, who won a close decision over Demian Maia. All three rounds were competitive and close, but all judges scored the bout for the wrestler, Munoz. Maia showed impressive striking in the first round while Munoz controlled the fight with his wrestling in the final two rounds.

For complete UFC 131 results, check out the jump.

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UFC 131 Picks & Predictions

nullUFC 131 takes place on Saturday from the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Here is a rundown of my takes on all the main card bouts.

Heavyweight Bout – Shane Carwin (12-1) vs. Junior dos Santos (12-1) – This should be an explosive fight and I see Carwin walking out the winner. I don’t see the fight going beyond five minutes as both fighters have explosive power. I suspect Carwin can take a punch better than dos Santos, which will allow him to earn a first round KO.

Featherweight Bout – Kenny Florian (13-5) vs. Diego Nunes (16-1) – This will be a tough test for Florian, who is making his 145-pound debut against Nunes, who is on a nice run as of late. If Florian can handle the weight cut and continue to fight his style, he should be able to out-class Nunes and secure a submission in the third. I suspect Florian will do just that.

Middleweight Bout – Demian Maia (14-2) vs. Mark Munoz (10-2) – Munoz is a tough guy, but I think he will struggle with Maia on the ground. I look for Maia to pull off an impressive submission in the second round on the wrestler.

Heavyweight Bout – John Olav Einemo (7-1) vs. Dave Herman (20-2) – Einemo seems to be one dimensional and just strong with his submissions while Herman is an impressive striker and well-conditioned fighter. My pick is Herman to win by knockout in the third round.

Lightweight Bout – Donald Cerrone (14-3) vs. Vagner Rocha (6-1) – I think Cerrone should control this fight from start to finish. I don’t see him finishing Rocha, who is good at submission defense, but I do see Cerrone getting the decision win.