1. Maturation and Domination
Chan Sung Jung put a beating on Dustin Poirier Tuesday night in Fairfax, Virginia.
After making a splash in his North American debut with a wild brawl against Leonard Garcia at WEC 48, “The Korean Zombie” has developed into a legitimate top-of-the-food-chain contender in the featherweight division two years later. While there are always still glimmers of the gunslinger who planted his feet and traded punches non-stop with Garcia, Tuesday night’s main event mainly saw a fighter who has learned to play to his strengths, and use his varied skills and excellent conditioning to his advantage.
No matter where the fight went, Jung was the stronger of the two. He traded shots with Poirier in the feet, controlled the action in the clinch, and showed a slick submission game on the ground, eventually putting Poirier to sleep with a D’Arce choke in the fourth round.
It was a performance that showed how much Jung has matured since his brawl with Garcia two years ago. He’s reined in his stand-and-bang mentality, replacing it with a more technical, more effective approach, and his done it without seeing a dip in the level of excitement he brings to the cage. Jung is 3-0 since shifting his approach, and will probably find himself standing across the cage from the UFC featherweight champion next time out.
2. Don’t Count Out Dustin Poirier
The surging 23-year-old was handed the second loss of his professional career, and his first in the UFC, effectively pressing pause on his climb up the featherweight rankings for the time being. With that said, don’t think for a minute that we’ve heard the last of Dustin Poirier.
Sometimes you’re not the better man, and that was the case on Tuesday night for the Louisiana native. Jung controlled things from the outset, and while Poirier has a smattering of solid moments, they were few and far between compared to the effort put forth by his opponent.
The reality is that Poirier just needs to get more time in the cage against high-level competition under his belt. He came into this fight having dominated his last two opponents, but subbing out just-turned-20-year-old Max Holloway — who had all of four fights to his name at the time — doesn’t prepare you for a fight against a battle-tested veteran like Jung. While he can’t see it now, this loss could actually be a blessing in disguise for “The Diamond.”
He’s spoken in the past about wanting to gain as much experience as possible before fighting for the title. A win wouldn’t have allowed that to happen, but this loss should. Poirier will now get the chance to get a couple more quality fights under his belt against top 20 opponents before even having to think about championship contention, which should make him more dangerous in the long haul.
3. The Amir Sadollah Dilemma
Being an Ultimate Fighter winner, you know that the UFC is going to want to continue to push Amir Sadollah. Unfortunately, though he’s nearly four-years removed from beating C.B. Dollaway to win Season 7 of the long-running reality TV competition, Sadollah is essentially the same fighter he was coming off Spike TV, and that’s not a good thing.
Tuesday night, the 31-year-old emerged with a split decision victory over Jorge Lopez in a tepid affair that was tailor-made to the perceived strengths of Sadollah’s game. While Lopez has been viewed as an intriguing prospect in the past, he’s still green, yet was able to do enough to win the fight in the eyes of one judge, and numerous people watching at home. This far into his career, you expect to see more from Sadollah, but it doesn’t appear that there is much more to offer, and that puts the UFC in an awkward position.
His TUF credentials make him a recognizable name for television, but his performances to date do not measure up to his placement on the fight card. Having earned a win last night, a step up in competition is in order, and that is usually where Sadollah stumbles; only twice in his career has he put together back-to-back wins. At a time when the UFC needs to be investing television time into building potential pay-per-view draws and future contenders, can they really afford to keep investing a spot on the television broadcast to guy in the bottom third of the welterweight division?
4. Back in the Saddle
Yes, I just used a bad “Cowboy” reference for the sub-title of this bit on Donald Cerrone. Sometimes you just want to take the lay-up when it’s there…
Five months after getting beat down by Nate Diaz, Cerrone returned to take out his frustrations on Jeremy Stephens. Turns out I misinterpreted the look in Cerrone’s eyes on Monday’s weigh-ins — what I thought was “I’m not that into this” was actually the look of a very talented fighter ready to unleash five-months of pent-up fury on an unsuspecting foe. This was Cerrone at his best: comfortable and coming forward, with a healthy dash of enjoyable cockiness mixed in for good measure.
Much like his fight with Vagner Rocha last summer in Vancouver, Cerrone used his 15-minutes of cage time with Stephens to get in some live sparring, and remind everyone that he’s still a solid threat in the lightweight ranks. Diaz got in his head and shook him back in the winter, but this was a return to form for Cerrone, who should find himself opposite a top 10-15 guy next time out.
5. Tiger Style
Yves Jabouin is now 3-0 since dropping to the bantamweight division after taking home a unanimous decision win over Jeff Hougland. Much like Donald Cerrone’s bout with Jeremy Stephens, this was little more than live sparring for Jabouin, who showed off his arsenal of spinning attacks against the over-matched Hougland in this one.
Side Note: could you imagine how nasty it would have been if Hougland actually fought Renan Barao like he was originally scheduled to do later this summer? This was proof that the uproar over that booking was very much valid.
Here’s the thing for me with Jabouin: he had multiple opportunities to put Hougland away, and didn’t. While he looked very good, I’m still not convinced that he’s a viable threat in the bantamweight ranks. A three-fight winning streak should have him lined up with someone in the upper-third of the division next time out (Brad Pickett, anyone?) which will be where “Tiger” gets his chance to prove he just needed to be fighting at bantamweight all along.
6. The Jason MacDonald Situation
I know Canadian UFC veteran Jason MacDonald wants to retire in Calgary this summer, but that shouldn’t be an option at this point.
MacDonald was knocked out 50-seconds into his meeting with Tom Lawlor last night, the second time in as many fights that he’s been finished in the opening frame. The 36-year-old is 1-3 in four fights since returning to the UFC, one of those losses coming when he suffered a horrific leg injury against John Salter. Chances are he’s going to be looking at a lengthy suspension from the Virginia Athletic Commission (at least 60 days I’m assuming) which means he’ll only come off suspension a week before UFC 149.
Additionally — and this is the hard part — MacDonald just isn’t capable of fighting in the UFC at this point. With back-to-back losses, and having dropped three of four, MacDonald would normally be getting handed his walking papers right about now, but approaching a fight in his backyard, he looks like he’ll get a stay of execution.
While I have nothing wrong with the UFC deciding not to cut MacDonald at this stage, and letting him leave on his own terms at home in Calgary, it shouldn’t be with one final fight. Let him announce it at the weigh-ins or the press conference or even before the PPV portion of the card kicks off; don’t hand him a favourable match-up with your fingers crossed that he goes out with a Hollywood ending.
7. Stop Mic’ing Up Corners
I love hearing Greg Jackson call his fighters by their full name (“That was great, Jon Jones!”) and listening to Gil Martinez shout expletives at his charges, but the UFC needs to stop mic’ing up corners.
Last night, Brad Tavares told the ringside physician that he couldn’t see out of his left eye after Dongi Yang inadvertently poked him during the first round. The doctor told Tavares he would have to stop the fight, Tavares said he was good to go, passed a “How many fingers?” test, and continued to fight, his eye noticeably bothering him throughout the second stanza. After the round, his chief second, Ray Sefo, started his instructions with “I know you can’t see out of that eye.”
1. If you want to push how safe the sport is, it would probably be a good thing that you didn’t give people access to moments where coaches are sending fighters with injuries or impairments back out into the cage. An overwhelming majority of these guys aren’t going to pull themselves out of a fight no matter how hurt they are, and if coaches are going to ignore the injuries as well, the UFC shouldn’t be showcasing it for people at home.
2. What the hell is wrong with these ringside physicians? It doesn’t matter if the fighter changes his mind and says he’s fine after you tell him you’re going to stop the fight — not a single one of them will be all “great, thanks Doc!” They’re all going to tell you, “No no — I’m good to go.” If you don’t think the fighter should be continuing, stop the fight; that’s your job, period.
Side Note: Cheating the “How many fingers test?” is easy — you just have someone stand off in the line of sight of the good eye and relay the answer. Saw someone rocking that trick in Bellator a couple weeks ago.
8. Gift-Wrapped Guillotine
Cody McKenzie deserves credit for always finding a way to connect his hands and having a good squeeze, but Marcus LeVesseur put his neck on a platter Tuesday night. The Division III wrestling standout sat in McKenzie’s guard, neck exposed for far too long, and the inevitable happened — the dude who has won 84.6% of his fights by guillotine choke sunk in a guillotine choke to get the victory.
The bout showed that LeVesseur simply isn’t ready to compete at this level. While he was controlling the fight on the ground in the early going, he missed an opportunity to finish, scrambling to McKenzie’s back when he had a choke opportunity all but wrapped up. The problem was that LeVesseur misunderstood the instructions from his corner, reacted incorrectly, and eventually paid the price.
That being said, you have to give McKenzie a round of applause — dude is a one-trick pony, but he does pretty damn well nonetheless. He’s a character and fans seem to like him, so a lengthy career in the bottom tier of the lightweight division appears like a certainty for “The AK Kid.”
9. Two More Lightweights to Watch
Because there isn’t enough depth in the division already, TJ Grant and Rafael dos Anjos showed Tuesday that they’re interested in being players in the lightweight ranks moving forward as well.
Grant dominated Carlo Prater, controlling just about every second of their 15-minute affair. The grizzly Nova Scotia native is a better fit at ’55, where his strength and grappling acumen doesn’t get over-matched by superior athletes who are cutting down to make the 170-pound welterweight limit. Now 2-0 since making the move to lightweight, a September fight in Toronto would make sense, and should come against someone with a bit more momentum than Prater.
In picking up a beautiful first-round submission win over Kamal Shalorus, dos Anjos reminded everyone that is wasn’t long ago that he was considered someone to keep an eye on in the lightweight ranks. After rocking the Iranian wrestler with a perfectly timed, perfectly placed headkick, the Brazilian climbed on his back, trapped his arm, and sunk in a rear naked choke to get the tap. He’s 5-2 in his last seven, including a close split decision loss to Gleison Tibau and a brutal knockout win over George Sotiropoulos. Like Grant, dos Anjos should be looking at a step up in competition next time out.
10. Time to Trim the Fat
Last night’s card exceeded expectations — it was pretty entertaining overall, the main event rocked, and a great night for some lesser known fighters to gain a little exposure. It also showed that there are just too many fighters on the UFC roster right now.
The company has loaded up over the last couple years as their schedule has expanded, and that has resulted in a surplus of bodies. Combined with keeping guys who help out on short notice around for a “thank you fight,” there are too many guys on the roster who just aren’t quite capable of competing on this level. What ends up happening is they get paired with someone of comparable skills and standing, and the winner ends up getting to stick around for two or three more fights, and the cycle keeps repeating itself.
I’ll have a full-length feature on this later in the week, but wouldn’t it make more sense to shuffle some of these not-quite-ready-for-primetime players over to Strikeforce? One organization is overflowing with fighters, the other doesn’t have enough athletes to put together a basketball team.
* * * * * * * *
Keep up with the latest from Keyboard Kimura by joining the Facebook page.
If you’re on Twitter, be sure to follow me (@spencerkyte) for even more MMA talk… and all kinds of randomness too.
