By Adam Martin
This week’s Monday Fight Survey takes a look at the most important four fight announcements of the past week, including the main event for September’s UFC 165 event in Toronto.
Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson, UFC 165
The main event for UFC 165 was officially unveiled this week and it will be a title fight as Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson will go toe-to-toe for five rounds with the UFC light-heavyweight title on the line.
With UFC 165 taking place in Toronto, this will mark the third time that Jones has headlined a card in Canada’s biggest city, a decision that has been met with skepticism by some observers of the sport.
Although Jones is one of the top fighters on the planet, fans in Toronto probably wanted to see someone else headline this card, including Canadian TJ Grant, who will fight Benson Henderson for the lightweight title three weeks earlier at UFC 164.
I think the UFC’s original plan was probably to do the Grant vs. Henderson fight in Toronto but Jones’ toe injury took longer to heal than expected and so he was pushed back on the UFC’s schedule and landed in Toronto for the third time by default, and his return is sure to provide a lot of excitement.
The first time Jones fought in Toronto, he choked out Lyoto Machida in the Fight of the Night at UFC 140. And the second time he fought in Toronto he submitted Vitor Belfort with an Americana at UFC 152, which won him the event’s Submission of the Night bonus.
So while I understand some fans wanted to see maybe someone else headline the card, it really is hard to complain about Jones headlining considering his stellar track record while performing in the city. This fight with Gustafsson should, at the very least, be exciting however long it lasts and, at the end of the day, that’s what the UFC is all about.
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Jose Aldo vs. Chan Sung Jung, UFC 163
The UFC announced a big change to the upcoming UFC 163 card as Anthony Pettis is out of his fight against UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo and in his place will be “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung, who was removed from his UFC 162 matchup against Ricardo Lamas to make this match.
Although I expect this to be an exciting fight, I still don’t like it. Yes, Jung is an awesome fighter and did earn his title shot by beating Dustin Poirier at UFC on FUEL TV 3, but that was over a year ago and now Jung will be fighting Aldo with a ton of ring rust.
Although I’d still pick Aldo to win the fight had Jung been fighting more consistently, the fact that he’ll be coming in rusty is awful for him and I expect Aldo to capitalize and knock him out in the first round.
I think Ricardo Lamas should have gotten the title shot, but at the end of the day the UFC is a business and Jung sells more tickets than Lamas, so he got the shot. But that doesn’t change the fact Aldo vs. Jung is a complete mismatch, and the only way I see this fight ending is with “The Korean Zombie” being knocked out in vicious fashion.
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Darren Elkins vs. Hatsu Hioki. UFC on FOX Sports 1: 2
A featherweight bout between two fighters on the bubble of the top 10 will take place this summer at UFC on FOX Sports 1: 2 when Darren Elkins takes on Hatsu Hioki in his home state of Indiana. The fight will determine which of these two featherweights is truly still a contender, and who is just a pretender.
This is an excellent matchup for a number of reasons. First off, I like it because it makes sense as far as the rankings go. It’s been commonplace as of late for the UFC to match up guys in the top 10 with guys not even in the top 20, so to see two guys ranked between No. 10 and No. 15 in the division always makes a fight more intriguing to me.
And secondly, it’s an intriguing style matchup. Although Elkins has a great takedown game and improved standup, Hioki is a better striker and if he gets taken down he’ll likely threaten with submissions off his back, which should make for a very interesting fight and a very interesting one to score.
Although some may think this fight will be boring, personally I expect this fight to be quite exciting and competitive, but don’t be surprised if you see Elkins with a controversial hometown decision here. It’s that close to call.
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Erik Perez vs. Takeya Mizugaki, UFC on FOX Sports 1: 2
Top prospect Erik Perez returns to the cage this summer when he takes on veteran Takeya Mizugaki at August’s UFC on FOX Sports 1: 2 event. This fight will mark by far the steepest test of Perez’ young career to date so far and I’m kind of surprised the UFC gave him such a tough veteran for his next fight.
Although Perez has all the potential in the world, I thought for sure the UFC would take the same approach with him they did with Conor McGregor in matching him up with guys at the lower end of his division.
Instead, though, he’ll take on Mizugaki, a guy who has fought some of the best of the best in the lower weight classes, and this should prove to be a very difficult matchup for Perez at this point of his career.
Although Perez can certainly get the upset win I’m just really surprised that, with the UFC making inroads to Mexico, they’d match up one of their top Mexican products with such a tough fighter.
But hey, Joe Silva and Sean Shelby know what they’re doing so maybe they see Mizugaki on a career decline and hope Perez can make a name for himself off of him with a statement victory this summer. We’ll see, though.
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