First and Worst is an ongoing series for MMARatings.net, where every week Adam will make his pick for the best and worst newly-announced fight of the past week (Monday to Sunday). If you’d like to see any additions to this series, hit him up on Twitter @MMAdamMartin.
First: Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson, UFC 165
My choice for the best fight announced this past week is the upcoming UFC light heavyweight bout between Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 165. Although I wrote earlier this week that I believed that UFC should have waited to see if Dan Henderson could defeat Rashad Evans at UFC 161, the UFC made the announcement of Jones vs. Gustafsson before that fight took place, and the result of Henderson losing made it a moot point.
Although I’m not totally sure if Gustafsson earned his title shot – after all, he never did end up fighting Gegard Mousasi at UFC on FUEL TV 9, and hasn’t got another win since — I do have to admit the fight between Jones and Gustafsson is intriguing. Until now Jones has been way bigger than all of his foes at 205 pounds, but in the Swede he finally meets his match, as least when it comes to height, when he takes on the similarly-lanky Gustafsson this September.
I think Gustafsson kind of got the title shot by default because no one wanted to see #1 contender Lyoto Machida face Jones for a second time, at least not so soon. And this fight between Gustafsson and Jones kind of got the default best fight announcement of the week award, because anytime Jones steps into the cage it’s a treat to watch him perform, and he’s almost always involved in the best two or three fights for any card he’s on.
Although I believe Jones will defeat Gustafsson inside the distance, Gustafsson should be very tough to put away, and the result should be an exciting fight for the fans. Since this is the fight that Jones specifically asked for, I’m okay with seeing it, although I still think it’s a shame we never got to see Jones vs. Henderson go down.
Worst: Jose Aldo vs. Chan Sung Jung, UFC 163
My choice for the worst fight announced this past week is the upcoming UFC featherweight title match at UFC 163 between Jose Aldo and Chan Sung Jung. The original main event for the card was of course Aldo vs. Anthony Pettis in a super fight, but Pettis withdrew with a knee injury, and the UFC pulled Jung off the UFC 162 card to fill the vacancy.
I don’t like this fight because I believe there are more deserving contenders for Aldo right now, with the most prominent being Ricardo Lamas, whom Jung was set to square off with at UFC 162. Since Jung’s last fight against Dustin Poirier, which took place in May 2012, Lamas has defeated Hatsu Hioki and Erik Koch – two men who were supposed to fight Aldo at various points in the past year – and I believe he earned the right to become the #1 contender with those wins.
But Jung is getting the title shot instead, and the reason he was picked instead is because of his marketability. Jung is an extremely popular fighter and already has a large fanbase, whereas Lamas is still mostly unknown, even though his TKO win over Koch in the opening bout of UFC on FOX 6 was designed to make him more known to the fans. So now Lamas not only doesn’t get a title shot, but he also might get pulled off the UFC 162 card entirely if no opponent can be found in two weeks, and that would really suck for someone who has done nothing but do and say the right things over the past year.
The reason why Aldo vs. Lamas is a better fight is because of styles. Although no one has been able to plant Aldo on his back for long enough to win a fight against him, Lamas has the tools to do so. Jung, on the other hand, plays right into Aldo’s strengths. He’ll have no problem standing in the pocket and trading with Aldo, and of course that’s a terrible idea, since Aldo is arguably the best striker in the UFC right now, aside from Anderson Silva.
And I haven’t even mentioned Jung’s 15-month layoff from the cage yet. Yeah, not good.
This seems like another mismatch in Brazil, and I expect Aldo to knock out Jung in the first round. After all, this is the same fighter who was knocked out by George Roop, and considering how much better of a striker Aldo is than Roop, Jung is in deep trouble this August.
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UFC 165: Jones vs. Gustafsson is due to take place on September 21, 2013 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Click the stars to rate how good you think UFC 165 will be.
UFC 163: Aldo vs. Jung is due to take place on August 3, 2013 at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Click the stars to rate how good you think UFC 163 will be.
