The UFC’s 25th anniversary show has an interesting main event between two fighters who have not fought in over a year. No question that Chan Sung Jung is one of the most exciting fighters we’ve seen in the UFC regardless of weight class. The Korean Zombie has produced the only Twister Finish in the UFC, a seven second knockout of former contender Mark Hominick and a consensus Fight of the Year winner against Dustin Poirier. His exploits led to an ill-fated 2013 title shot against Jose Aldo where he broke his shoulder and lost by knockout. After recovering from injury, he took a two year break to complete his military obligations for his country. After three and a half years, he returned to knockout Dennis Bermudez in less than one round. After that, he suffered a knee injury and now returns after another 21 months on the shelf.
The Korean Zombie was slated to fight Frankie Edgar here but with Edgar hurt, Yair Rodriguez stepped in. However, Rodriguez himself is coming off an 18 month layoff due to a combination of injuries and contract problems. Rodriguez won the TUF Latin America featherweight tournament in 2014 and racked up six straight wins in the UFC, 8 wins overall. But El Pantera’s streak came to an end at UFC 211 where he lost by stoppage after the referee stopped his bout with Frankie Edgar due to swelling in his left eye as a result of an accumulation of blows. After that, Rodriguez was supposedly “released” by the UFC because he turned down several bouts. But the UFC called upon him to take over Frankie Edgar’s spot at this event. Now he gets a big chance to barge in the rankings by beating the 10th ranked Korean Zombie.
As interesting as this matchup is, it’s hard to paint a picture of it because both fighters are coming off serious injuries and long layoffs. In particular, I’m interested in the Korean Zombie’s form and conditioning given that he has fought less than three minutes over a five year period. He isn’t known as the Zombie for nothing. We know he’s aggressive and he keeps coming forward but how would he fare if Rodriguez takes him to deep waters? No question, The Korean Zombie is ready for war. He always is but what about his body after all the downtime it’s had in the last five years? This should be an exciting and action packed fight. Jung has the better all around skills but Rodriguez makes up for the difference in athleticism and youth. If this is the firefight we expect it to be, I will give the edge to the younger, creative and more athletic fighter here and that is Yair Rodriguez. We’re picking Yair Rodriguez to beat the Korean Zombie. That, to me, is the best bet in this fight but if you also want to bet on the over/under, go with the over 2.5 rounds. Rodriguez’s average fight time in the UFC is 13 minutes and 14 seconds. Four of his seven UFC fights have gone the distance.
Donald Cerrone was one of the UFC’s most entertaining and most popular fighters at lightweight. He was a guy who took on every available fight out there and fought more than the average UFC fighter per calendar year. But after a failed title shot against Rafael Dos Anjos and a subsequent move to the welterweight division, Cowboy now looks like just a shadow of his once spectacular self. Cerrone won his first four welterweight fights but when 2017 came, the wins didn’t. Last year was the first time in his MMA career where Cowboy didn’t have a win in his record. With four losses in his last five fights, this may be a crossroads fight for Donald Cerrone. An interesting angle in this fight is the drama surrounding the protagonists. Cerrone and Perry used to be sparring mates at Jackson-Wink but after Platinum called him out ,Cerrone has distanced himself from his longtime training gym which chose to corner his opponent in this fight.
His opponent, Mike Perry, is an interesting prospect. Perry is a freestyle fighter who possesses limited but powerful striking skills. But Perry’s limitations have often been covered by his knockout power, giving him big knockouts and entertaining bouts. But Perry’s insensitivity and choice of words has often gotten him in trouble outside the octagon. Still, the UFC continued to build him up but ended up rushing him up the ladder. Back to back losses to Santiago Ponzinibbio and Max Griffin unmasked his limited bag of tricks. His move to Jackson-Wink was supposed to make him a better fighter. Sparring with Cowboy was supposed to be a valuable learning experience but after calling out Cowboy, the latter drew the battle lines. Now Perry has a chance to earn the biggest win of his MMA career.
This fight has the makings of a barnburner and it is likely going to steal the spotlight from the main event. As much as a technical fighter Cowboy Cerrone is, Cowboy is often lured to brawls and toe to toe battles. More often than not, these fierce exchanges have been disadvantageous to Cerrone. There are camps who question his chin but even if he has an okay chin, he doesn’t seem to have the answer, at welterweight, when opponents put the pressure on him. When Swarmen, the welterweight version of Donald Cerrone has crumbled, leading to 4 losses in his last five bouts I see Cerrone having a good degree of success early but once Mike Perry decides to swarm him, Cerrone is going to fold and it will only be a matter of time when this fight is going to be over. We’re picking Mike Perry to beat Donald Cerrone. Bad blood is going to make this an abbreviated fight. 11 of Perry’s 15 fights ended in a knockout. This one’s going that direction too. I don’t think Cerrone’s chin will hold. I will go with the under 1.5 rounds here with Platinum knocking out Cowboy in the first round.
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