UFC Quick Quote: Chan Sung Jung wants featherweight title shot 'within the year'
05/16/2012
Up until the Hominick fight I thought that all of this stuff was really good luck. Now I feel I’m really able to showcase my skills. I just went out there and fought. I think that at the end, it wasn’t that technial but I went out there and fought my heart out. If possible, I’d like the title shot within the year.
– Did Chan Sung Jung earn a featherweight championship fight with his impressive fourth round submission victory over Dustin Poirier in the main event of UFC on FUEL TV 3 last night (Tues., May 15, 2012) in Fairfax, Virginia? It’s entirely possible that he did and few will argue if that turns out to be the case. But he tells UFC.com that if he’s going to be getting a crack at the 145-pound crown, he would like for it to be before the year is out. Had he demanded as much, it would have been fair, especially after what he was able to do last night to Poirier, a man many thought was already in line for a title shot. Instead, The Korean Zombie politely requested his shot come before 2012 is over, if he’s granted it to begin with. Surely we can all agree he deserves it but should he stay busy with one more fight or should he wait?
UFC 146: Feeling good, Cain Velasquez plans to defeat 'Bigfoot' Silva with a quickness
05/15/2012
You can work for accolades and acclaim your whole life, only to have them vanish in a moment.
That moment came for former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez when he was savagely knocked out by current champion, Junior dos Santos, at UFC on FOX 1, in Anaheim, Calif., on Nov. 12, 2011.
After defeating Brock Lesnar to win the belt, it looked as though Velasquez would sit atop the heap of 265-pound mixed martial arts (MMA) elite for some time to come. Unfortunately, that was not to be.
Velasquez sat down with HDNet’s Inside MMA to discuss what it was like to watch his dream disappear so quickly, as well as how he plans to move forward in his upcoming bout versus Bigfoot Antonio Silva at UFC 146 on May 26, 2012.
Check it out:
You know, at first, it was just hard. Everything you work hard for gets taken away from you, just off of that one night. It was just time for me to step back and, first of all, get my body back to 100 percent. I took some time off, rested my body, rested the little nagging injuries that were bothering me. With this training camp, I just slowly worked my way into it. That’s really helped me. I took my time at the beginning of the training camp, and then, as weeks went on, just kinda picked up the intensity. I feel really good. My body feels good. I think my quickness and power is where they need to be. I’m glad that after that fight, I took that time off to relax and get my body to one hundred percent.
One of the biggest criticisms Velasquez received after his loss to JDS was in regard to a poor strategy. He engaged dos Santos in the stand up exchanges, waiting too long to try and get the fight to the ground.
Velasquez knows he is facing a dangerous opponent in Bigfoot, but he believes speed will be his weapon of choice:
‘Bigfoot’s’ a big guy, you know? I think he does everything well. He mixes up his punches and kicks really well. For me, I think, with his overall size, I gotta be quicker than him. So, a lot of ‘in and out.’ If the takedown’s there, take it. Just try to beat him off the quickness.
One advantage Velasquez will have is that one of his training partners, Daniel Cormier, has already fought and defeated Silva. Not only did he win, but he knocked him out in the very first round.
Velasquez has used Cormier and his fight versus Silva as a resource, but he believes he’ll be facing a very different fighter when the cage door closes on May 26:
The training sessions with Daniel have been great. The type of athleticism and skill that he brings to this, it’s just great to be in with a guy like that, every day, to train with a guy like that, every day. As far as him, with his fight with Silva, he took him apart early. He told me what he felt out there, even though it was short. But, I’m not expecting to fight the same guy that he fought. I’m expecting to fight a better guy. He dismembered him so quickly.
With both Velasquez and Silva coming into their fight against each other off first round knockout losses, there’s a certain amount of desperation you could expect to see. According to Velasquez, that just makes them both all the more dangerous:
I think it’s just more fuel to the fire. You know, we both are hungry for the win. We’re both high competitive guys. I think it makes us more dangerous, in that aspect. I mean, it’s just of, with my fight, I made a mistake, and I paid for it. That was it. Just learn from it and move on. I feel like I’m ready. I feel like I can step in there with anybody right now and come out victorious. I feel good.
For all the latest news, fight line up, rumors and archived information for UFC 146: Dos Santos vs. Mir click here.
History in the Making: FUEL TV 3's Dustin Poirier derails Josh Grispi's title hopes at UFC 125
05/15/2012
In a parallel universe, Josh Grispi might be the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Featherweight Champion.
After four consecutive wins in World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) — all stoppages, three by submission and one via technical knockout (TKO) — Grispi was slated to challenge Jose Also at UFC 125 for the Brazilian’s strap. Fate intervened, however, when an injury forced Scarface out of the bout at the last minute.
The Fluke remained on the card and was paired up against a fighter making his 145-pound debut. Everyone assumed the Massachusetts native would pick up the win and go on to face Aldo once the champion was healthy enough to fight.
Everyone except Dustin Poirier.
Nearly a 1.5 years removed from that bout on the first evening of 2011, The Diamond finds himself riding a five-fight win streak and headlining tonight’s (May 15, 2012) UFC on FUEL TV 3: Korean Zombie vs. Poirier card against Chan Sung Jung.
Poirier is on the cusp of a title shot and a win over Jung at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Va., will push him over the edge and right in the sights of either Aldo or Erik Koch, whichever one of the two emerges victorious at UFC 149.
The Diamond didn’t get to this position by luck or happenstance. Hard work, perseverance and all the other elements that make a great fighter have afforded him this opportunity.
And it all started at UFC 125.
Let’s take a closer look at his bout with Grispi:
Grispi opens up with an inside leg kick and continues throwing kicks at his opponent with varying degrees of success. The Diamond answers back with several vicious leg kicks of his own. They clinch up against the cage and begin working each other over with short punches and knees to the legs and body.
They separate and Poirier immediately begins to unload on his title chasing opponent with a bevy of strikes. Bullying The Fluke against the cage, Poirier forces the Massachusetts native to retreat while absorbing almost no damage himself. With some distance between them, the Tim Credeur-trained fighter begins to unleash more vicious leg kicks.
A front kick from The Diamond smacks Grispi in the middle of his chest and is followed up with another inside leg kick. The same front kick connects again but this time The Fluke is knocked to the canvas. Poirier stands over him and is dropped to the mat when Grispi begins to look towards an ankle lock. The Diamond is able to avoid the submission, wind up on top and then get back to his feet, forcing the referee to make Grispi do the same.
Poirier immediately pounces on his opponent, opening up with an absolute barrage of punches and knees, drawing a reaction from the crowd. Grispi takes a beating along the cage and shoots in with a weak takedown attempt. Poirier is able to nearly get his opponent’s back but The Fluke threatens with a kimura attempt.
He nearly gets it locked up but Poirier defends perfectly and escapes the danger, ending the first five minute period on top.
Grispi is the aggressor early into the second round but eats a knee to the body as he shoots in for another takedown. He tries to pressure his opponent against the cage but The Diamond reverses position on him and lands a brutal elbow. A vicious uppercut, followed by more punches and a beautiful knee from the clinch have Grispi once again retreating. A carbon copy of the first round plays out as a wobbly Grispi dives in with a half-hearted shot, which is stuffed.
They begin scrambling around on the mat and The Fluke is finally able to drag Poirier to the mat and nearly secure a guillotine choke but just as quickly, The Diamond reverses Grispi and once again ends up on top. Now bloody from the damage he’s taken, Grispi is forced to return to his feet after his opponent opts to continue the fight standing.
Poirier continues to brutalize his opponent against the cage, something none of Grispi’s opponents have been able to do during his WEC career. But with less than a minute remaining, it looks like The Fluke might pull off a miraculous win when he locks up a triangle choke. Poirier lifts his opponent up and slams him down, shedding the submission off in the process.
The round ends with The Diamond unleashing yet another barrage. 10 minutes now gone, two things are certain: Grispi is tough as nails to take as much damage as he has and Poirier is nobody’s warm-up fight.
The third round plays out as the previous two did albeit with a much more exhausted Grispi. He eats punches, knees in the clinch and gets stuffed on almost every single takedown attempt. Grispi manages to end the fight on top but does next to nothing with the position before the round and fight ends.
UFC 125 was a coming out party for Poirier. He laid an absolute beating on someone who would have been a title contender in Grispi.
With a win over Jung, The Diamond will become a contender himself.
Can he do it?
UFC on Fuel TV 3 fight card: Jeremy Stephens vs Donald Cerrone preview
05/14/2012
Two lightweights looking to return to prominence will battle it out this Tuesday night (May 15, 2012) as Jeremy Stephens takes on Donald Cerrone on the UFC on FuelTV 3 main card in Fairfax, Virginia.
Jeremy Stephens was one fight away from entering the mix in the 155 pound division before a split decision loss at the hands of Anthony Pettis sent him back down the lightweight ladder. Now, he’s got a golden opportunity in front of him in Cowboy Cerrone, who’s also reeling from a high profile defeat. If Stephens can win, he’s back and if he can stop the Greg Jackson product, he’ll immediately be a player again.
Donald Cerrone was right on the cusp of title contention after winning his first four UFC fights in eight months, including a dominant pair of stoppages against Charles Oliveira and Dennis Siver which knocked both men down to the featherweight division. He ran into the high volume attack of Nate Diaz this past December, however, and was knocked off his perch in the division. Now he’s out to regain the status Diaz stole from him.
Will Stephens corral the Cowboy? Can Cerrone get back to his winning ways? What’s the key to victory for both men on Tuesday night?Let’s find out:
Jeremy Stephens
Record: 20-7 overall, 7-6 in the UFC
Key Wins: Sam Stout (UFC 113), Rafael Dos Anjos (UFC 91), Marcus Davis (UFC 125)
Key Losses: Anthony Pettis (UFC 136), Melvin Guillard (UFC 119), Joe Lauzon (UFC Fight Night 17)
How he got here: Fighting on the local Iowa scene, Jeremy Stephens got off to a 12-1 start to his career while fighting on the local Iowa circuit in his backyard. This string of victories earned him a shot in the UFC, but he would lose via second round armbar to Din Thomas.
Lil Heathen has had a very up and down career thus far in the UFC. He’s never been able to string along more than two consecutive wins together and also has only one strung together two losses. He’s faced some of the best in the promotion like Melvin Guillard, Anthony Pettis, Gleison Tibau and Joe Lauzon, but has come up short more often than not against the best in the division.
His power has helped him win fights that he shouldn’t have, however. The best examples of this would be his come-from-behind victories against both Rafael Dos Anjos and Marcus Davis, when he scored late third round knockouts in fights he had lost the first two rounds.
He was on a nice streak until his last bout, a wrestling match against Anthony Pettis that was razor close although Stephens would lose a split decision. He’s had plenty of time to think about it since October and he’s more than ready for the challenge that Donald Cerrone brings to the table.
How he gets it done: If Lil Heathen wants to hang with Cerrone on the feet, he needs to channel the striking from his Sam Stout fight. At UFC 113 in 2010, he wasn’t looking to wing big hooks or uppercuts, but instead stayed within himself inside the pocket and traded aggressively and accurately. He was actually able to outstrike the striker.
Of course, the best way to beat Cerrone would be to mix it up, enter the clinch, maybe even work for takedowns. If he can keep Cowboy guessing, it’ll give him better opportunities to find success as long as Cerrone isn’t ready for what he attempts.
Of course, the big equalizer for Stephens is his power. He’s come from behind on several occasions, finishing fights he was losing with one big punch. Who can forget that from the south pole uppercut he threw against Rafael Dos Anjos which put the Brazilian’s lights out or his Knockout of the Night against Marcus Davis last year?
As long as Stephens is still standing and breathing, he’s a threat with his power, even against someone with a pretty solid chin like Cerrone.
Donald Cerrone
Record: 17-4 (1 No Contest) overall, 4-1 in the UFC
Key Wins: Dennis Siver (UFC 137), Charles Oliveira (UFC on Versus 5), Danny Castillo (WEC 34)
Key Losses: Nate Diaz (UFC 141), Ben Henderson 2x (WEC 48, WEC 43)
How he got here: Cerrone, a former bull-rider, transitioned to mixed martial arts (MMA) and got off to a very hot start. He was undefeated in his first 10 fights, working all the way up to a WEC title fight with then-champion Jamie Varner.
Cerrone would come up short via close split technical decision. Despite the setback, the Greg Jackson-trained fighter would go on to battle Ben Henderson for the interim title when Varner became injured. He would lose another close decision in what was deemed the 2009 Fight of the Year. After again bouncing back, Cowboy would try (and fail) for a third time at WEC gold in a rematch with Henderson, but would at least get redemption against Varner in his next fight, soundly defeating the former champ via unanimous decision.
After defeating Chris Horodecki in the final WEC event ever, Cerrone made his UFC debut on the Spike TV Prelims of UFC 126 against Paul Kelly. Cowboy surprised many by working his ground game against the Brit and completely outclassed Tellys, earning a submission victory by way of rear naked choke in the second round.
He would continue his torrid 2011 with victories over Vagner Rocha, his first knockout victory over Charles Oliveira and then he capped it off by destroying top contender Dennis Siver before the midway point of the first round. After his impressive showing against Siver, he called for one more fight in 2011 and he had his wish granted against Nate Diaz, but he bit off more than he could chew, losing a dominant unanimous decision against the Stockton slugger.
Now after actually taking some time off, Cerrone is ready to get back in action.
How he gets it done: Both of these men are talented and well-rounded, but Cerrone has a few distinct advantages. The first is that he’s much more likely to use kicks in the striking game. This should give him some bonus effectiveness from a distance that Stephens won’t be able to counter. The other is his submission game.
Stephens has been stopped via submission on multiple occasions, although not lately, most recently losing to Joe Lauzon via armbar in 2009. If Cerrone can take the fight to the ground, he’s got some very crafty submissions skills and he could tie Stephens up into his web, threatening with chokes, armbars or anything else.
Footwork will be key for Cerrone. Stephens has been outpointed before by similar strikers like Marcus Davis so as long as he can dance circles around Stephens, avoid the big power shot and keep peppering away with jabs and straight rights, he should at least be able to score a decision if not worse.
Fight X-Factor: The biggest X-Factor for this fight is the amount of rest Donald Cerrone’s had. He fought a ridiculous five times in 2011 during a matter of 11 months. After losing to Nate Diaz, he’s finally had a good near-five months to take a break and heal up some of his nagging injuries.
Now the big factor here is, has he made good use of his time? Has he actually taken a break for a bit and will he be returning 100 percent, or did that insane 11 month stretch take too much out of him as a fighter?
Hell, perhaps he’s the type of combatant that actually gets better under pressure and being in constant regular training camps. Perhaps Cerrone will actually be worse off after taking four and a half months between fights. That’s a question we’ll have to get answered on Tuesday night.
Bottom Line: Both of these men are bangers on the feet. I expect almost all of this fight to stay standing and I expect it to be very exciting. Cerrone is much more technical, what with his kickboxing background and all, but Stephens is a workhorse on the feet, has terrific cardio and will be a constant threat to alter the fight with his power. This is a brute force versus finesse style of fight. I expect some solid back-and-forth and neither man to gain too much of an advantage at any one time. Neither fight is the type to back down either so this should be very entertaining to watch as both men have raked in quite a few bonuses in their UFC careers thus far.
Who will come out on top at UFC on Fuel TV 3? Tell us your predictions in the comments below!
Poll
Which UFC on Fuel TV 3 lightweight will get back on track with a big win on Tuesday night in Fairfax?
Donald Cerrone
Jeremy Stephens
84 votes | Results
Dustin Poirier vs Chan Sung Jung fight video preview for UFC on FUEL TV 3 main event
05/14/2012
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) will deliver its third offering on the FUEL TV channel this coming Tues., May 15, 2012, from the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia. In the main event of the evening, Dustin Poirier puts his five-fight win streak on the line against Chan Sung Jung. A featherweight title shot could very well be hanging in the balance.
Poirier is simply focusing on doing what he does but doing it better:
It’s the small things, the finesse. Who’s going to go out there and fight like a professional fighter and pick their shots and stay technical. We can both knock each other out, we can both submit each other, and we’re both very dangerous; pretty much any position we get put in, we can finish a fight, I think. I’m sure he knows that, I know that about him. It’s just going to come down to who is better prepared.
The Korean Zombie agrees that the two have similar styles and he’ll need to be on his game to continue his climb up the 145-pound ladder:
We fight in a similar fashion so it’s going to be a case of who can do it better. Hopefully I’ll be able to pull off another good win. I plan to do all the things that I’ve prepared to do from the beginning. So it’s going to be important to set the pace and stick to my gameplan. I don’t want it to turn into a brawl like my fight with Leonard Garcia so I’m going to be looking to implement my gameplan from the very first round.
Maniacs, who ‘ya got in this one?
For all the latest news and notes on UFC on FUEL TV 3: Korean Zombie vs. Poirier click here.