For the UFC, the Fight Night 165 tournament in Busan was the last in 2019. In the main fight, former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar and local favorite Jung Chan Song met. In this battle, the future opponent of Zabit Magomedsharipov could very well be determined.
For domestic fans, the fight of the lightweight fighter Said Nurmagomedov and Raoni Barcelos was of the greatest interest.
This confrontation was interesting for several reasons at once. First, on the eve of the clash, Nurmagomedov and Barcelos were not inferior to the UFC and could safely claim the status of “top prospectuses” in their weight category. Secondly, each of them was famous for an uncompromising and vibrant style of warfare, which almost guaranteed an exciting sight.
As a result, expectations were met, but only partially. Nurmagomedov and Barcelos really spent almost all 15 minutes on their feet, but there were not so many truly memorable episodes. The Brazilian was constantly pressing, forcing the Russians to act on counterattacks. Khabib’s namesake was forced to constantly back back, which practically deprived him of the opportunity to carry out his sweeping kicks. It was this that brought Said success in his duel with Ricardo Ramos, but now he was forced to rely on the work of his hands.
If the first round went more or less smoothly and was remembered by several good hits by a Russian, then in the second the Brazilian advantage began to grow. Already in the first minute, Said missed a low kick from an opponent, which led to serious damage. He could hardly step on his injured leg and was forced to move to the left-side stance in order to protect himself from the aggravation of injury. This deprived him not only of variability, but also of self-confidence, which he instantly took advantage of. Barcelos was actively “tearing” the distance, and at the end of the interval he had a chance to make his opponent sleep. Raoni was on the opponent’s back and almost had a strangulation from behind.
The third round also took place in a fairly equal fight. Nurmagomedov tried to act inventively and aggressively, delighting fans with back-fists in the style of Alexander Shlemenko, many of whom achieved the goal. But at a crucial moment he made a gross mistake. The spinning kick attempt was too predictable, which allowed Barcelos to instantly transfer the opponent to the ground. There he was again close to holding a strangulation, but the Russian managed to get out of the manual triangle.
In the last seconds, Said tried to restore the status quo and persuade the judges to his side, but his attempts were in vain. According to the results of three rounds, two referees gave Raoni a victory with a minimum score, and the third saw the Brazilian completely dominated in the octagon. Nurmagomedov suffered his first defeat in the UFC and interrupted a successful series of seven bouts. The last time he lost to Magomed Bibulatov at the ACB 9 tournament in June 2014.
In the main match of the evening, Jung Chan Son and Frankie Edgar met. Initially, the Korean zombie was supposed to fight with the second number of the featherweight rating by Brian Ortega, but he suddenly got injured and was forced to withdraw from the tournament. A veteran of the championship agreed to go for a replacement, for the sake of which he postponed his transition to the lightest category. Already in January, he was to face off with Corey Sandhagen.
As it turned out, the American made a serious mistake by agreeing to fight with Son. He underestimated the counterpart skills in percussion technique and started a “shootout” in the rack. It seemed that a missed straight forward was supposed to cool his ardor, but he only rushed into the exchange and very soon appeared on the floor. The Korean zombie climbed onto the opponent’s back and began to hammer one blow after another, but Edgar heroically withstood more than two minutes of beating and was able to get up.
True, Frankie's success was short-lived. He was clearly in a state of grogging, and therefore could not prevent Jung from conducting another powerful series. Edgar again fell face down on the canvas, and the referee Mark Goddard rushed to separate the fighters. The Korean won a second consecutive early victory and can now break into the top 5 of the featherweight division. Until now, he was in sixth position.
At the end of the bout, Son hastened to challenge the newly-minted champion Aleksander Volkanovsky, but in the near future he was unlikely to get a chance to argue for the title. Firstly, the UFC may well provide revenge to the former holder of the belt Max Holloway, and secondly, in the featherweight category there are athletes who have a much longer successful series. First of all, this concerns Zabit Magomedsharipov, who prevailed in all six battles under the auspices of the Absolute Fighting Championship.
It cannot be ruled out that the UFC will decide to arrange a battle between Magomedsharipov and Son. Zabit fought in November and will be ready to return to the octagon in the next few months, while Chung has cost little blood in a duel with Edgar. Thus, it is in their full-time confrontation that the name of the future first applicant for an honorary title can be determined.
However, the significant events of the show did not end there. In the second most important battle of the evening, Volkan Ozdemir defeated Alexander Rakic and extended the winning streak to two fights. At one time, a Swiss with Turkish roots was listed as the first contender for the title, but then lost three times in a row and only recently began to correct the situation. Moreover, the defeat by a separate decision of the judges from Dominic Reyes provoked extensive discussions, and many considered it unfair.
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Publication by ufc (@ufc) Dec 21, 2019 at 3:51 am PST
This time the situation repeated exactly the opposite. According to the results of three rounds, the judges preferred Ozdemir, but the Korean fans did not agree with the verdict. Yes, Volkan delivered 31 more blows, but lost in the number of accented hits (63:75). In addition, the Austrian noted a takedown, which is usually very generously assessed by the referees.
Among other things, the tournament in Busan was remembered for several beautiful knockouts. The author of one of them was Charles Jourdain, rehabilitated for failure in the battle with Desmond Jones. The Canadian shocked the local audience and sent their pet Du Hu Choi to the floor, questioning his career in the UFC. After the show in his homeland, there were three defeats in his liability, which practically guarantees his dismissal.
And this despite the fact that the first round went for a clear advantage of the Korean. He worked great from a distance and even knocked the Canadian down. In the middle of five minutes, Jourdain was on canvas, but did not allow to finish. And in the end, he perked up and already knocked Choi down. The combination of the jab and the right straight turned out to be smashing, but also did not lead to a halt.
The first half of the second five-minute period turned out to be less intense, but already in the second, both strongly added to aggression and pleased the audience. As before, Choi started well, but that evening luck was on Jourdain's side. 31 seconds before the gong, he felt the opponent’s jaw with a crushing left straight, and with the right hook fixed the result.
Also bright early success was pleased with Da Un Jang, for whom this victory was the third in a row in the UFC. The offender of Hadis Ibragimov took only 63 seconds to crush Mike Rodriguez and outline his claim to be in the top 10 light heavyweight. Now his track record has two successes in the championship, both of which are early.
Another exciting duel took place as part of the preliminary card, where a fierce logging was arranged by Alexandre Pantoja and Matt Schnell. Top fighters of the lightest weight dispensed with intelligence and immediately clashed in the center of the octagon. A Brazilian struck down a sweeping exchange of blows - the American fell to his knees, but quickly recovered. The next episode was left to Schnell. Pantoja missed the left hook and staggered, but very soon again pulled ahead thanks to a powerful takedown.
It seemed that the athletes decided to slow down a little and stay in the cage for at least another five minutes, but Matt forgot to step back after another attack. Alexandre struck exactly in the jaw, and then removed all questions about the winner. For the Brazilian, this success was the fifth in the UFC with three failures.