Jose Aldo defended his title successfully Saturday night at UFC 163 against Chan Sung Jung. In a main event for the UFC Featherweight Championship, Jose Aldo proved why he is the UFC Champion. He won in a dominating, cerebral performance in which he paced himself perfectly so that he could fight the entire five rounds if necessary.
It wasn't the most exciting fight of the night nor was it what I expected. Jose Aldo was very strategic in his approach to the fight. He was very patient and cautious of Jung's explosiveness and finishing ability that has resulted in multiple post-fight bonuses. The first two rounds of the fight consisted of Aldo showing off his crisp boxing against what was like a near-lifeless Chan Sung Jung. Combinations were landing left and right from Aldo. Head-body-head. Body-head-body. Very crisp boxing from the Champ.
The third round began kind of like the first two rounds with not a whole lot of action but then near the third round the combatants began to open up and the fight was finally began. Korean Zombie and Aldo were both opening up and landing. Aldo was getting the better of the exchanges but we were beginning to see the Zombie that earned a reputation as an exciting fighter.
Just when things were getting exciting, in the fourth round, Jung's shoulder dislocated during an exchange with the champ. Aldo's excellent finishing extinct kicked in and Aldo began to target the shoulder with a series of high kicks that continually landed on the injured shoulder. Korean Zombie ends up against the cage and Aldo smothers him, gets him to the ground and closes the match with shots to the face.
One thing to note was how Aldo did not throw a huge volume of his infamous leg kicks. I was greatly looking forward to seeing those destructive kicks. The absence of those kicks attributed to some of the dullness of the fight. It wasn't an entertaining bout but I respect Jose Aldo's cerebral approach to the fight. He knows what it takes to stay a champion and guess what? He walked away with his belt, which is all that matters! If Georges St-Pierre can lay and pray, why can't Aldo counter box?
I hope that the UFC puts together Aldo vs Lamas or Aldo vs Mendes in a rematch. Both of those would be exciting fights. Below is a link to the full fight results:
http://www.sbnation.com/mma/fight-card/124071/ufc-163-aldo-vs-korean-zombie
I may get bashed for saying this but I feel the Bellator event, Bellator 97, earlier this week was a little more entertaining. I'm a huge UFC fan, but I'm just saying.
No comments:
Post a Comment