Korean Zombie beats Poirier, earns title shot
Published on May 16, 2012, at 12:18 p.m. Eastern.
By Brian Edwards
There’s been a lot of conversation recently about the excitement the bantamweight and featherweight divisions have brought to The Ultimate Fighting Championship over the last year. This was on clear display in Tuesday’s main event at UFC on Fuel TV 3 in Fairfax, Virginia.
What was also evident is that the promotion has a rising star in The Korean Zombie, who garnered a pair of bonuses worth $80,000 with his fourth-round submission of Dustin Poirier. In the process, Chan Sung Jung earned a shot at the featherweight belt held by Jose Aldo, who will face Erik Koch at UFC 149 on July 21.
In his three career Octagon appearances, Jung now has a pair of Submission of the Night honors, one Submission of the Year, one KO of the Night and one Fight of the Night.
That, folks, is coming to fight and getting it done in the cage.
And Jung needed everything he had against a very game Poirier, who escaped numerous submission attempts and absorbed a huge amount of punishment in the first two rounds. However, BrianEdwardsSports.com gave Poirier the third stanza, as he began to enjoy success on his feet with his powerful hands, especially the left.
As Poirier got busy, Jung appeared to slow down. But he certainly found a second wind in the fourth when he landed a big right uppercut and followed it up with a looping left hook that sent Poirier back against the fence.
In survival mode, Poirier desperately went for a takedown unsuccessfully and Jung locked on a D’Arce choke that put the previously-unbeaten Poirier asleep. Jung proved to be a live underdog, hooking up his backers with a generous plus-270 payout (paid $270 on $100 wagers). His prior victory over Mark Hominick in KO fashion resulted in payouts north of plus-400 for his betting supporters.
In the co-main event, The Ultimate Fighter Season 7 winner Amir Sadollah captured a split-decision victory over Jorge Lopez in a welterweight showdown.
Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone got back on the winning track with his unanimous-decision win (30-27 three times) over Jeremy Stephens as a minus-250 favorite. Cerrone, who improved to 5-1 in the UFC, bounced back nicely from a disappointing loss to Nate Diaz.
‘Cowboy’ neutralized Stephens’ heavy hands by staying on the outside and taking advantage of his reach and vicious kicking game. Although Stephens continued to throw dangerous haymakers throughout the bout, he was never really in the fight. Cerrone simply had his number for the entire 15 minutes.
Tom Lawlor opened the Fuel TV broadcast by making quick work of Jason MacDonald. Lawlor won the $40,000 KO of the Night bonus by disposing of the Canadian in merely 50 seconds.
For the first time in 11 years, UFC President Dana White wasn’t in the building for the fight card. Instead, he was in Los Angeles getting ready to have surgery for Meniere’s disease, a condition when fluid in the inner ear gets too high.
