Breaking Down UFN 24: Jung Vs Garcia / Johnson Vs Sadollah

Added on Mar 24, 2011 by John Petit in

UFC & MMA

Welterweight bout:

Amir Sadollah vs. DaMarques Johnson

Amir Sadollah

Odds -235

Record: 4-2

UFC Record: 4-2

Streak: 1 win

DaMarques Johnson

Odds: +216

Record: 12-8

UFC Record: 3-2

Streak: 1 win

I think this will be a stand up fight unless Amir wants to take it tot he ground, but usually he is fine standing and throwing punches. Amir will own a slight reach disadvantage, but his striking always seems very clean, and that leads me to believe he will be able to get on the inside of Johnson. Amir only has one finish in his UFC/MMA career, and hopefully he stays focused on winning, and he continues to make good decisions in the octagon. If he decides that he wants to brawl with Johnson he could end up getting TKO’d like he did in his loss to Johnny Hendricks. He is coming off of a win at UFC 122 to Peter Sabotta that came via decision, but I am sure Amir is itching to end one of these fights before the 15 minute mark.

DaMarques is going to want to keep it standing for certain, and he will definitely try to keep Amir on the outside of his strikes. What makes me nervous was his weight at his last fight versus Mike Guymon. The fight ended up being at a catchweight of 172 when DaMarques weighed in over, and he subsequently lost 20% of his fight purse. He won the fight, but this weigh in has to go smoothly for him, because any problems could effect his cardio which he will need late in this fight. If DaMarques can mix it up, and keep Amir backing up then I expect to see finish in this fight. However, I think Amir will stand his ground, and he won’t be too nervous about DaMarques’ power.

I expect DaMarques to win this one, and its going to be a rough fight for both of them. I think they will both trade strikes, and after the first two rounds they will both look like a mess. IF DaMarques comes in on weight, I see him winning this fight, and I am see him doing it early in the third round. I hate to keep bringing it up as he has only missed weight once in his 20 fight career, but this is a close fight to call. Even a little thing like a few pounds, and the energy spent trying to get rid of them, could mean the difference between a win and a loss in this one.

Featherweight bout:

Leonard Garcia Vs Chan Sung Jung

Leonard Garcia

Odds: -130

Record: 15-6-1

UFC Record: 2-2 (WEC: 5-3)

Streak: Won 1

Chan Sung Jung

Odds: (Even)

Record: 10-3

UFC Record: Debut / (WEC: 0-2)

Streak: Lost 2

This rematch confuses me a little bit, because even though Jung won the fight last night and didn’t get the decision, I am not sure why the UFC made this fight. Nam Phan was scheduled to face Garcia, but he had to drop out with a broken foot he sustained while training. This is a rematch of their of WEC 48 fight, which some gave fight of the year to, and it was 15 minutes of two 145′ers throwing hay maker after hay maker. I thought it was clear Jung won he last fight, and there was no real reason to do it again.

Knowing both of these fighters you can expect an exciting fight. Chan Sung Jung has rededicated himself, and even headed out to Faber’s Team Alpha Male for a month long stint to train with the team. Chung has to make a decision on how he wants to play this fight, because I expect him to be able to dictate the pace if he wants. If he choses to throw hands for 15 minutes against Leonard, then we will probably see an exciting fight where both guys look like they got beat down with a baseball bat when its over. Garcia is hard to knock out, especially when you are a 145′er so I hope Jung doesn’t decided to make this one three more rounds of another brawl. If Jung can use his wrestling, and I am sure he is learning some of that at Alpha Male, I think he can control Garcia on the floor for 15 minutes and rough him up.

Garcia has a few things going for him in this fight. One of them is his ability to convince judges he is winning fights even when he may not be. For some reason, when he is able to land 3 punches on someone in an exchange and his opponent lands 5, he is able to make it look like he got the better of the exchanges. This all may sound like a slight, but I think its an important thing to be able to do, even if its subconsciously. He fights on a lot of heart, he has the cardio to fight 7 rounds, and is almost always coming forward. He has no problem giving a punch to take a punch, and the boy can take a beating.

Both guys will be trying to finish the fight the whole time, but I don’t expect one. I also don’t expect a mirror image of the last fight because Jung was pretty hard himself after he lost via knock out to George Roop. I expect Jung to be much more conservative, and I expect him to use his wrestling to put some pressure on Garcia. I see Jung taking the Decision in this fight, and for his sake I hope it isn’t a close fight.