UFC Fight Night 104: Bermudez vs. Korean Zombie - A look into the Main Event and Prediction.

Dennis “The Menace” Bermudez vs “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung:

This Saturday’s main event takes place in the UFC's Featherweight division and sees the return of fan favourite, Chan Sung Jung against the always entertaining Dennis Bermudez, in what should be an action-packed contest. 

“The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung will be looking to get back into the featherweight rankings after taking three years off to complete mandatory military service in his home country of South Korea. His nickname “The Korean Zombie” best describes his dogged fighting style which consists of constant high pressure and the sheer refusal to give up. His opponent, Dennis Bermudez, is currently on a two fight winning streak in the talent stacked featherweight division and will be looking to further climb the rankings himself. Both fighters are not afraid to take one to give one so this has all the ingredients to be Fight of the Night.

Chan Sung Jung has not fought since losing to Jose Aldo in August of 2013 where he challenged for the featherweight title at UFC 163. During this fight, Jung lived up to his nickname when he dislocated his shoulder in the fourth round and whilst trying to pop it back in, was pounced on by Aldo who attacked the injury to a point where the referee had to stop the fight. This was seen by many as a valiant effort by the South Korean who took the fight on relatively short notice after Anthony Pettis had to pull out due to injury. Before that, Jung had notched up three straight victories in very impressive fashion – finishing Dustin Poirier with his own patented move, the D’Arce Choke (in 2012’s Fight of the Year), then knocking out former Featherweight title challenger Mark Hominick in just seven seconds and submitting Leonard Garcia with the rarely seen Twister (2011’s Submission of the Year). It will be interesting to see if Jung can return to his old ways or if “cage rust” will play a factor in this fight given how long he has been away from the octagon.

Dennis Bermudez is currently ranked number nine in the UFC’s Featherweight division and will be looking to make a statement on Saturday night to improve on this. In his last outing, he fought to a unanimous decision victory over Rony Jason (who had just come back from a one year suspension after testing positive for a banned diuretic). In his UFC career, “The Menace”, much like "The Korean Zombie", has been involved in some very entertaining fights (most notably against Jeremy Stephens at UFC 189 where he lost via TKO in the third and final round of a back and forth thriller) and has been awarded five “… of the night” bonuses as a result. However, he has taken some damage inside the octagon and this could prove costly against a fighter who refuses to quit and swings for the fences like Chan Sung Jung.

With that said, I personally think with all of the time off this is a difficult return fight for “The Korean Zombie”, who has only been finished twice in 18 professional MMA contests. In the time Jung has been away, Bermudez has fought a total of seven times, racking up five wins and losing just twice. I think it would be unwise for Bermudez to stand and trade with “The Korean Zombie” given how durable, resilient and difficult to finish the South Korean has been in the past. Therefore, I expect Bermudez to threaten with constant take down attempts and if they’re successful, some ground and pound (whilst avoiding Jung’s submission attacks) to ware on his opponent and grind out a hard fought victory.

My Pick – Dennis Bermudez by Unanimous Decision.

daniel_clemenson@outlook.com

UFC on FOX 23 Betting Guide

UFC on FOX 23 Betting Guide:

Shevchenko vs Pena –

The winner of this main event fight is most likely next in line for a title shot against the current women’s UFC Bantamweight Champion, Amanda Nunes. The contest will feature an interesting clash of styles as an established grappler/wrestler (Julainna Pena) meets accomplished stand up practitioner (Valentina Shevchenko).  

Valentina “Bullet” Shevchenko, in my opinion, has faced better competition during her career and has notched up an impressive win over former women’s Bantamweight Champion, Holly Holm. She did, however, lose to the current champion Amanda Nunes - albeit in a closely fought match that saw Shevchenko take the third round but ultimately lose via unanimous decision to the “Lioness”. Shevchenko, though, has been quietly going about her business since and looks tough to beat at this moment in time.

Julianna “The Venezuelan Vixen” Pena on the other hand has been very vocal of late – criticizing most of the women’s Bantamweight division for being “over-rated” and “looked after” whilst stacking up wins inside the octagon. In her last outing, Pena showcased dominant wrestling skills and top game against Cat Zingano at UFC 200 and is undefeated in the UFC. If she can take Shevchenko down this could turn into a very interesting fight.

Overall though, I believe Shevchenko will get the job done on Saturday night by evading Pena’s take down attempts and using her stand up skills to keep the “Venezuelan Vixen” at bay.

My pick – Shevchenko via Unanimous Decision.

Cerrone vs Masvidal –

Two former Lightweights who have gone on to become established Welterweights are paired against each other in this co-main event for UFC on Fox 23.

Since moving up to the 170lb division, fan favourite Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone has been nothing short of impressive, finishing his last four opponents with relative ease. His latest win coming by an impressive highlight reel head kick KO of Matt “The Immortal” Brown at UFC 206 - an opponent who had never been knocked unconscious in 36 previous fights. This new weight class seems to have reinvigorated Cowboy and with a win on Saturday it would be difficult to deny him a title shot.

By contrast, Jorge “Gamebred” Masvidal has been somewhat of a mixed bag since returning to Welterweight having lost two back to back Split Decisions to Benson Henderson and Lorenz Larkin respectively. He does, however, have finishes over Cezar Ferreira and Jake Ellenberger (the latter in odd fashion admittedly) and called out “Cowboy” straight after his last win. It appears Masvidal has a personal grudge against Cerrone which may bring out the “backyard brawler” in Gamebred and make for an exciting fight.

Varying styles make for dynamic match ups and I strongly believe this will be Fight of the Night, and could even potentially be a Fight of the Year contender. If Masvidal can capitalize on Cerrone’s typical slow starts he could pick up an impressive win. However, taking all of this into consideration, and based on recent performance, I believe Cowboy will just edge “Gamebred” in this one.

My Pick – Cerrone via Split Decision.

Arlovski vs Ngannou –

This is a classic contest between a battle-worn veteran and a young, promising newcomer that takes place in the hard hitting Heavyweight division.

Andrei “The Pitbull” Arlovski’s career has been well publicized and not always for the right reasons. He has been the recipient of some of the most brutal finishes in MMA history with the Fedor Emelianenko KO loss being particularly spectacular. Since then his chin has always been called into question. After being brought back into the UFC in 2014, The Pitbull at first gathered some impressive victories – most noticeably the TKO stoppage victory over Travis Browne, who was highly ranked at the time. However, he has not won a fight since September 2015, failing to go the distance in his last three. These loses did come at the hands (and feet) of some very skilled opponents, however, in the form of Stipe Miocic (the current Heavyweight champion), Alistair Overeem and, another UFC veteran, Josh Barnett.

Francis Ngannou has been a welcome breath of fresh air to the Heavyweight division since his UFC debut in late 2015. Fighting out of Paris, France, the hard hitting Cameroonian (who was homeless until he found MMA) is currently undefeated in the UFC and revels in the fact that none of his victories have gone beyond the second round. What's more he has an ever developing game and is constantly adding new weapons to his arsenal. These were on display in his last fight against Anthony “Freight Train” Hamilton where he won, via submission, by way of Kimura.  However, the fact that he has never had to prove himself beyond the second round could play against him if he is dragged into the later rounds as this would be uncharted territory for him and could test his stamina as never before.

It will be interesting to see how Arlovksi performs in this latest bout and you can never rule anyone out in the Heavyweight division. However, I think youth will prevail on the night and believe Ngannou has the power and precision to test Arlovski’s questionable chin and potentially turn the lights out early for The Pitbull.

My Pick – Ngannou via TKO Round 1.