An overall great night of fights ended with one of the best performances of the MMA year so far. Alexander Volkanovski was absolutely sensational in what I thought was the best performance of his entire career. I had him third in my pound for pound rankings that I made at the end of 2021 and after the first quarter of this year, he has surpassed Israel Adesanya to move into the second spot in my mind. I don't think I'll put him above Kamaru Usman yet, but he's put the top spot on notice. Unfortunately, all of this praise had to come at the expense of Chan Sung Jung who was simply outmatched on Saturday. Zombie is a fan favorite, so no one takes pleasure in watching him lose the way he did. He was clearly emotional after the loss and it isn't really clear whether he will continue fighting. I'm sure he doesn't want to go out on a performance like that and he has plenty left in the tank if he does continue to fight. I'm not sure if he'll be able to work his way back to the title again, but there are plenty of fun fights left for him if he wants to compete and continue to earn a paycheck. He's nowhere near the level of some fighters that the UFC has tried to move on from in recent years, so I wouldn't worry about that when it comes to the Zombie. If he doesn't fight again, it will be his choice.
Normally, I start each section by going over the fighter's performance. When it comes to what Alexander Volkanovski did Saturday night, I'm not sure words can do it justice. In short, he was basically able to do whatever he wanted at any time during the fight. His striking was crisp, technical, powerful, and fast from the jump. He could've out struck Zombie all night with little issue if he wanted to. He was able to manage the distance very well for being the shorter man and used his quickness to enter and exit range effectively. Not only was Volkanovski damaging the Zombie at will, but he basically took no damage. His striking defense was I think the best we had ever seen it. If all of that wasn't enough, Volkanovski was also able to get a takedown virtually whenever he decided he wanted to. I won't go as far as to say that Volkanovski is a perfect fighter, but that is about as close to a perfect performance as someone can have. I think he's put himself in a position to sort of call his own shots going forward and Paul Felder said something to the same effect at the end of the broadcast last night. He's been in the same tier as Usman and Izzy skill wise for a minute now, but I think he's just entered that tier in the eyes of the more casual audience. His star power and ability to headline shows has risen more recently to that level and I think the sky is the limit for him going forward.
In terms of what's next for Volk, featherweight is kind of in a weird spot. He's already beaten Max Holloway twice, but every time a contender rises to the top, they lose to Max before they can get their own title shot. This has left Max as still the best challenger for the title and I think Volkanovski would not only accept that fight, but would welcome it. We know he would accept it because that was the fight that was originally booked for Saturday, but Holloway pulled out a couple of months ago with an injury. If we are living in a world where the next title shot goes to the best possible challenger, Max Holloway is the clear option. The problem is, that isn't the world we live in and a lot of other factors are considered. The issue here is that there really isn't another clear option right now. Brian Ortega just lost to Volkanovski before this and Yair Rodriguez is coming off of a loss himself. Those two seem to be on a path to fight each other, but the timeline isn't clear at the moment. The best options right now would be Josh Emmett and Arnold Allen with Bryce Mitchell being a tad behind them. I would think all of those are at least one more win away from a title shot. If any of those got the next shot, I think Arnold Allen would be the guy as his Dan Hooker win stands out amongst the wins on all of those resume's. Allen called out Calvin Kattar after his win a few weeks ago and I would be pretty surprised if we don't see that fight. I think the most likely option is that Holloway just waits until Volk is ready to fight again and we see that trilogy fight. The final option is a wildcard, but that is Henry Cejudo. This name only gets included because of the lack of a clear hierarchy after Max, but I think it is at least possible. Beyond Max, there's no bigger name for Volk to fight now that the Zombie is out of the conversation and I think it is a challenge and payday that he would be interested in. I don't think it is particularly likely that we see this, but I don't think it is impossible either. Cejudo is an incredible athlete and competitor. He's not the biggest guy for featherweight, but neither is Volkanovski. With all due respect, I think Henry has as good a chance at beating Volk as anyone besides Holloway right now. The rocky relationship with Dana and the UFC would have to get smoothed over, but if money can be made, those things have a way of ironing themselves out. If it was up to me, the Holloway fight is the one to make. That is the one everyone wants to see and he's the clear best option. If Holloway wanted to take another fight or if Volk was adamant on a fresh challenge, I think Arnold Allen is the guy unless something can be worked out with Henry Cejudo.
On the other side of things, we have Chan Sung Jung. For fans of his, that couldn't have been fun to watch. Watching the older guys and OG's of the sport (at least the OG's for people my age) get beaten like that is always a sad thing for me. It was very clear from the early exchanges that Zombie was going to have a tough time in this one and within a few minutes, it was evident that Zombie wasn't going to be able to go the distance. He showed tremendous heart and grit by lasting as long as he did, but he just didn't have it last night. Volkanovski was just too fast in the striking and Zombie isn't a wrestler who could have tried to mix it up with takedowns. Zombie is normally the guy who goes forward and draws out his opponents attacks so he can counter, but Volk was entering and damaging Zombie then exiting range before Jung could get any of his counters to land. I'm not going to sit here and disparage the Korean Zombie because he's had an amazing career and worked his way all the way back to this title shot. He was in good enough condition to do the interview in the cage, so I will take that as a sign that he is relatively healthy and that is all you could ask for after the type of damage he took.
It is unclear what the future holds for Chan Sung Jung and how he wants to go about the rest of his career. He seemed noncommittal on if he will fight again, but that is a pretty common sentiment among fighters who just lost, so I wouldn't take anything he said as a final decision. He was obviously very emotional and self aware enough to realize that this was, in all likelihood, his last chance at a title. I imagine that is a really tough mental hurdle to get over, but time will heal all wounds. The question then comes if he will have the motivation to continue fighting knowing that there isn't likely to be a title shot at the end and that is only a decision he can make. If he does, there are plenty of fun fights for him to continue to have. I'll throw out some of those options here and see what we can decide on. There are some younger options that are looking to make the jump into the upper tier of the division. Arnold Allen, Josh Emmett, and Bryce Mitchell are all looking to make a push towards a title shot and a win over someone like The Korean Zombie would go a long way towards doing so. Giga Chikadze is also coming off of a loss and is looking to bounce back and continue to climb the rankings. If he is looking for more of a veteran option who is more in a similar situation to his own, then Edson Barboza might be a name to consider. If he decides that this is it, then what a great run it was. From the WEC days all the way to a multiple UFC title shots, it was truly a fantastic career for Chan Sung Jung. He's left us all with some great moments and great fights. His twister submission is one that will always stand out to me. If he does want to fight, I think the Barboza or Giga fights would make sense for him. I wouldn't mind the Josh Emmett matchup either.
What do you guys think of the fight? Is Alexander Volkanovski in your top two pound for pound? Who should get the next title shot? What do you want to see Korean Zombie do next? If that was it, what was your favorite moment of his career?
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