UFC Fight Night on ESPN+ 23: Edgar vs. Korean Zombie (12/21/2019) - Busan, South Korea (Sajik Arena)

[Elsalvajeloco]

UFC Fight Night on ESPN+ 23: Edgar vs. Korean Zombie
December 21, 2019
Busan, South Korea (Sajik Arena)

Frankie Edgar (146) vs. Chan Sung Jung (146) - Jung, TKO (strikes), R1 (3:18)
Volkan Oezdemir (206) vs. Aleksandar Rakić (206) - Oezdemir, DEC (split)
Doo Ho Choi (146) vs. Charles Jourdain (146) - Jourdain, TKO (punches), R2 (4:32)
Da Un Jung (206) vs. Mike Rodriguez (206) - Jung, KO (punches), R1 (1:04)
Jun Yong Park (186) vs. Marc-Andre Barriault (186) - Park, DEC (unanimous)
Kyung Ho Kang (136) vs. Pingyuan Liu (136) - Kang, DEC (split)

ESPN Preliminary Card:
Ciryl Gané (249) vs. Tanner Boser (246) - Gane, DEC (unanimous)
Seung Woo Choi (146) vs. Suman Mokhtarian (145) - Choi, DEC (unanimous)
Dong Hyun Kim (156) vs. Omar Morales (156) - Morales, DEC (unanimous) 
Alexandre Pantoja (126) vs. Matt Schnell (126) - Pantoja, KO (punch), R1 (4:17)
Raoni Barcelos (136) vs. Said Nurmagomedov (136) - Barcelos, DEC (unanimous)
Miranda Granger (116) vs. Amanda Lemos (116) - Lemos, SUB (rear naked choke), R1(3:43)
Heili Alateng (136) vs. Ryan Benoit (136) - Alateng, DEC (split)

Event Bonuses ($50,000)
Performance of the Night: Alexandre Pantoja
Performance of the Night: Chan Sung Jung
Fight of the Night: Doo Ho Choi vs. Charles Jourdain

Attendance: 10,651

Cancelled Fights:
Ji Yeon Kim vs. Sabina Mazo - Injury to Kim (Elbow) 
Veronica Macedo vs. Amanda Lemos - Macedo Moved to Another Bout 
Brian Ortega vs. Chan Sung Jung - Injury to Ortega (Torn ACL)

Edited October 13, 2020 by Elsalvajeloco

[The Natural]

Respect to Frankie Edgar stepping in when Brian Ortega pulled out injured. Edgar vs. Sung Jung, two of my favourite MMA fighters. I was gutted it was cancelled before as The Answer was hurt. Glad it's happening now.

[J.T.]

It figures that a week after I return to the states from shitty Camp Casey right at the fucking DMZ in support of Yama Sakura 77, there is a phenomenal fight card in fucking Busan headlined by the Korean Zombie.

[Elsalvajeloco]

And after nearly two years away, Superboy is back!

[AxB]

This is one of those far east timezone shows where it airs in the morning in Europe and in the middle of the night in America, right?

Strange that the Aussies are willing to host shows at odd times of the day to accommodate American TV, but the China/ Japan/ Korea aren't. They should let Conor headline something in Dublin before he retires though, even if it means the show finishing at 3 or 4AM local time. Manchester never had a problem with Ricky Hatton fights doing that (although that is a lot less people to be fair).

[Elsalvajeloco]

16 minutes ago, AxB said:

This is one of those far east timezone shows where it airs in the morning in Europe and in the middle of the night in America, right?

Right.

17 minutes ago, AxB said:

Strange that the Aussies are willing to host shows at odd times of the day to accommodate American TV, but the China/ Japan/ Korea aren't. They should let Conor headline something in Dublin before he retires though, even if it means the show finishing at 3 or 4AM local time. Manchester never had a problem with Ricky Hatton fights doing that (although that is a lot less people to be fair).

It may be TV related in those particular markets, but IMO, that's a better way to make inroads in those countries. They've had a ton of success in Australia whereas those other countries you've listed have been a tough nut to crack or they're experiencing slow growth. After Weili Zhang won the title, at the post fight presser, the first thing Dana talked about was having her first defense be in the U.S. (thus you have her fighting Joanna in Vegas in March). I take that as they are not going to have the shows in China be at friendlier times for North America anytime soon. The funny thing about it is years ago I remember some of the more prominent dudes in MMA media complaining about how it wasn't fair that the UFC wasn't doing shows favorable to the markets they were in. Yet, a lot of those of same people who live either in the U.S. or Canada were complaining about the FS1 shows running deep into the night. If you think going until 1 a.m. EST sucks, imagine having shows that START at 3 a.m. EST and don't end until 9 a.m. EST every couple months as opposed to three and a half to four months (or once every quarter). People can use Rizin and One as an example, but this ain't 2003-2006 w/ PRIDE or 2008-2010 with DREAM/SRC or even the first half dozen or so Rizin cards. If you're watching shows at that time living stateside, you are the hardest of the hardcore fight fan who will watch damn near any and everything.

[Elsalvajeloco]

 

[J.T.]

20 hours ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

And after nearly two years away, Superboy is back!

It was smart of him just to be like the Zombie and get that mandatory military service out of the way before he got too rusty. 

He and Zombie are as close to national heroes as you can get, so the government would probably did its best to avoid putting him too close to harm's way.  There is a lot of female teen squealing going on right now since the members of the K-Pop group, BTS, are approaching military service age and the government has said that they won't be exempt.

If the lads are smart, they'll all go in at the same time so that they can get out at the same time.  If they stagger their enrollment, the fans won't be hearing any BTS music for a long time.  When you are in the ROK army, you are a full time soldier.

And speaking of the military, fucking hell, man..  If YS-77's training schedule had run two days to the left, I'd still be in Korea on the US DoD's time.

I could've taken the train down to Busan to watch this fight, gotten back to Camp Casey in time for the AAR, and then flown back to the states on Monday since Change of Mission probably would've been on that Sunday morning.

Granted, the jet lag would've probably made me sleep through Christmas Day...

Edited December 20, 2019 by J.T.

[Elsalvajeloco]

 

[Elsalvajeloco]

 

[Elsalvajeloco]

 

[Elsalvajeloco]

[Elsalvajeloco]

Alexandre Pantoja hit Matt Schnell so hard it looked like Schnell got tazed and tried to stop himself from falling off a ledge at the same time. That was different.

[John E. Dynamite]

Frankie Edgar had been my favorite fighter for years. My first live MMA show was Edgar/Maynard II, how could be not be? Then he tweeted out a bunch of anti-vaxxer nonsense and I remembered that most fighters have garbage for brains. I have a little more pity in Frankie's case, but still. Jung's been in my Top 5 favorites since his Sengoku days and I was praying/predicting a first-round knockout. Sorry it had to end this way. Treat the Rodriguez match like the fluke it was and give Jung a title shot.

Was the decision in the co-main as bad as I thought it was?

Doo Ho Choi's striking defense. Jesus. You coulda been somebody.

[Elsalvajeloco]

So apparently, Doo Ho Choi is on the waitlist to do his military service and can't leave the country because of that. He only got this fight because the card was in South Korea. Now, we mostly likely won't see him for another two years. Well, that sucks. Anyway, he was picking Jourdain apart for the most of the fight but his tendency to run headlong into strikes did him in.

I don't really have a huge problem with the decision in the co-main event. It felt like one of those Fighter A won more rounds, but "lost the fight" type deals. The judges were probably seeing all the damage on Rakic's lead leg and the fact that there wasn't a whole lot else to choose from.

I know he took it on relatively short notice, but Frankie Edgar did not look good at all. Once CSJ stopped that first takedown, it was academic. All the punishment he has taken has come back to haunt him. He got caught by a grazing left hook, and he just fell apart. Goddard gave him every (and I mean every) chance to recover once he was flattened out. Then he got back up and was still on rubbery legs. That's not a great sign because Edgar once upon a time had amazing recuperative powers. It's crazy that he was just in a title fight less than five months ago.

BTW, I'm so glad CSJ is with Fight Ready MMA now. It has been long past time he come train stateside. After Choi inevitably does his military service, he needs to do the same damn thing. It doesn't have to be the same team, but he needs to switch it up.

8 hours ago, John E. Dynamite said:

Treat the Rodriguez match like the fluke it was and give Jung a title shot.

That fight wasn't a fluke at all. Yair Rodriguez hits people with crazy techniques. That's how he makes his living. The fight was absolutely crazy and was bound to have a crazy ending. And it very much did. A fluke is a BJJ guy with no TKO or KO wins on his record knocking someone out with a spinning back kick or question mark kick at 4:59 of round 3 after losing the previous 14 plus minutes.

[The Natural]

On 12/21/2019 at 12:51 PM, John E. Dynamite said:

Frankie Edgar had been my favorite fighter for years. My first live MMA show was Edgar/Maynard II, how could be not be? Then he tweeted out a bunch of anti-vaxxer nonsense and I remembered that most fighters have garbage for brains. I have a little more pity in Frankie's case, but still. Jung's been in my Top 5 favorites since his Sengoku days and I was praying/predicting a first-round knockout. Sorry it had to end this way. Treat the Rodriguez match like the fluke it was and give Jung a title shot.

Cool you got to see Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard II live, that's one of my favourite fights ever. There's only one fight I'd have ahead of it and even then not sure. Amazing comeback by The Answer from a first round you could score 10-7 to Maynard, at least 10-8. The scoring caused vigorous debate between those who thought Frankie won, Maynard or a draw. I had it 48-46 to Edgar.