Looking for a Fight @ UFC 163: Aldo v. Korean Zombie

Aldo is coming into his own as a fighter and a champion. (bleacherreport.com)

Like your MMA without all the professional wrestling mixed in? Well, the UFC has an event for you on Saturday. UFC 163: Aldo v. Korean Zombie live on pay-per-view from Brazil.

While I'd like to say that this main event has already gotten its fair share of coverage, that Jose Aldo's coming of age story has been covered, that the throne of best Brazilian fighter has been temporarily if not permanently vacated, and that there are other really compelling fights on the card to discuss I really can't. This card is about Aldo. Anderson Silva was knocked out, Junior Dos Santos may not beat Cain Velasquez, and there are reports floating around that might concern Vitor Belfort, the Brazilian MMA throne is much more accessible than this one.

On top of all of this there is a strong opinion that Georges St-Pierre will lose to Johny Hendricks later this year. What this all means for Aldo is that by January 1, 2014, not only could he be the King of Brazilian fighting, but he could also be the only fighter worthy of discussing as pound for pound champ other than Jon Jones. While this fight with Chan Sung Jung isn't as tasty as Anthony Pettis, it means a lot for Aldo.

Since being absorbed by the UFC, Aldo has defended his belt successfully 4 times without ever truly being in danger. He gassed at the end of the Mark Hominick fight, but Hominick would have had to finish Aldo for him to win. We have yet to see a signature finish from Aldo. He did KO Chad Mendes with a knee at UFC: Rio, but that wasn't a highlight reel finish - more just right knee right time.

Again in front of his home crowd of Brazil, Aldo appears as confident as ever. Discussion of overconfidence (especially after Anderson) are going around, but as I mentioned in my Aftermath article, this should have only served to put all champions on high alert.

Korean Zombie is deserving of this shot, considering the circumstances. He puts on exciting fights, and he is an extremely technical fighter on the ground and on his feet when he wants to be. It's unfair to treat Jung as an after thought or some monumental underdog. Korean Zombie has fought and has fought well winning all his fights in the UFC (all by finishes). As a half-Asian man, I honestly feel like it's a bit of prejudice. Not racist or malicious in its intent, but to treat Jung like he's much more of an underdog than say Ricardo Lamas makes no sense to me. You see a guy like Lamas who is from Chicago and has the tough guy look to him versus Jung who is Korean (obviously) you're going to feel a certain way. Hey, even I think it sometimes. Will Aldo's kicks just go right through Jung and break his leg?  Will Jung just get knocked out?

It's not that simple. Should Jung get knocked out, it won't have to do with him being Asian any less than Cub Swanson being whatever Cub Swanson is. Just purely looking at the fight though there are ways Zombie could win, and I view him as more of a threat to Aldo than Hominick was.

What should concern people about Jung is that he is a pressure fighter. He'll be moving forward, he tends to get wild at times, and has exploited the fighters he's taken to the mat. This will be virtually impossible due to Aldo's UFC best takedown defense, and his yet to be utilized Brazilian jiu-jitsu blackbelt.

BREAKDOWN

I'm giving the Korean Zombie a shot to take this into the championship rounds as long as he sticks to his gameplan, doesn't get crazy, and can adequately defend Aldo's combinations. While Jung charges in with his combos, he's also extremely effective at standing in the pocket and countering. When Aldo comes in with his cross, jab, right leg kick - yes, KZ will have to defend that - but it's possible he will also stand in there and counter with Aldo as well. Above all else, Aldo will win this fight because there is just no way KZ can out point Aldo until the later rounds, where fatigue may weaken Aldo. KZ will likely be behind from the get go, leaving his only recourse to take chances or accept defeat. Either way he'll put up a great fight, but the result will be Aldo's hand raised.

2nd Round TKO (punches)

All hail the king.

Looking for a Fight: UFC on Fuel 3

Looking for a Fight focuses on one particular fight during certain UFC events. 

"Zobified" Chan Sung Jung applying the rare twister submission to punching bag Leonard Garcia.

UFC on Fuel has finally gone a bridge too far. It was bad enough I had to miss the Brian Stann fight and Alex Gustaffson dominate in Sweden last time around, but now I have to miss Donald Cerrone and the Korean Zombie? Preposterous. I guess when you have every cable channel plus the sports package on Xfinity, that's still not enough.

In fairness to Cerrone, I was not a fan of his in his WEC days. Perhaps one of the greatest weaknesses of the WEC was their lack of ability (which I'm sure was driven by lack of funds and airtime) to build up the personality of their fighters. Anything you would learn about Urijah Faber or Anthony Pettis or Cub Swanson or Jose Aldo (I'm going to go ahead and refuse to acknowledge Jamie Varner in that group) at the time you had to figure out on your own. On fight night there would be the standard fight montage leading up to it, but again, this was only showing the in-ring abilities. Good for catching up the causal fan as to why one should care, but poor from dissuading the avid fan of one's preconceived notions.

The UFC does a great job of making their fighters marketable by showing their personalities, not just let their ring personas speak for themselves (something Rashad Evans should be thrilled about). While in WEC all I could think about Cerrone was, you're a cowboy, you wear a hat, we get it. But with UFC allowing Cerrone's personality to show you realize he's a daredevil crazy guy that is a big time thrill seeker. He's always out to fight the guy put in front of him, and I can get behind that. While things like a UFC title and winning are important to him, he admits he'd rather just fight so he can buy some jet skis. Even going so far as to say his lifestyle doesn't lend itself to longevity. Thinking you're immortal is one thing, but recognizing your mortality and not caring is another.

Aside from his weird ranch he owns with Leonard Garcia, everything I learned about the guy I liked. Along with his improved Muay Thai striking game at Greg Jackson's camp he's turned into not a favorite of mine, but a guy I always want to watch.What I look for out of a Cerrone fight is aggression and a need to finish things by KO or submission. Those bonus fight checks Dana White dishes out are pretty nifty.

He is must see fighting because he's exciting and, well, it's hard to avoid him. From December 16, 2010 the last WEC event to Tuesday night he has fought 7 times. He was 5-1 in 2011, losing his last fight in an odd performance where Cerrone was sluggish and out boxed by Nate Diaz. Some say injuries were involved, others that the continuous training and fighting just wore him down. Whatever the reason, Cerrone wasn't the same guy he was the previous 5 fights.

Assuming he gets back to his swashbuckling, bike flipping, and base jumping ways in the ring, he'll have a tough guy to bounce those strikes off of in Jeremy Stephens. Lil' Heathen stepped in to fight Cerrone after Yves Edwards had to pull out due to an injury. Stephens is no stranger to exciting fights. While only one of his previous four fights have ended in a finish (a 3rd Rd KO of Marcus Davis at UFC 125) he is constantly pressuring fighters and has a solid chin so he's not afraid to bang inside the Octagon.

While Cerrone was literally fast-tracking himself to a title shot before losing to Diaz, Stephens had a #1 contender contender match with poor Anthony Pettis. Pettis who was the actual WEC lightweight title holder when the company folded, and through a maze of injuries and rematches and draws finds himself injured and on the shelf until September with at least one more guy ahead of him in the pecking order should current LW champ Benson Henderson (whom Pettis beat and who also beat Cerrone twice) and former LW champ Frankie Edgar settle their business this Summer. Please, please no more lightweight rematches for a while.

Stephens lost a split-decision to Showtime and clearly has ideas of using Cerrone to get back up the LW ladder sooner rather than later.

OUTCOME


I'd really look for Cerrone and Stephens to set a high speed pace for the duration of the fight. While Cerrone has a stand-up advantage, there's no reason for Stephens to feel incredibly comfortable taking him to the mat either. Cerrone is quick on the ground with subs and also possesses violent up-kicks. Cerrone can definitely take Stephens out of his comfort zone and control how the fight goes down. My prediction is that this fight ends on the mat and Cerrone bails on a sub for a ground n' pound TKO in round 3.