Today I woke up at 4 in the morning (9pm previous day in Ireland) to watch UFC Fight Night 46 featuring Conor McGregor (ranked 12 FW) against Diego Brandao (ranked 20 FW).
To me, the Featherweight is the most interesting division in MMA particularly because most of my favorite fighters are Featherweights. What also got me interested about this fight, as many other MMA fans I presume, is the hype train called Conor "The Notorious" Mcgregor. Although, after the fight I'm still not sure whether it's time to believe on his hype yet.
In March this year, Brandao was matched against Asian MMA stand-out, Will Chope in a fight that was cancelled due to controversial and private reasons. Four months later, Brandao was now matched in a Main Event fight against a fast-rising name in the UFC. They did a good job of hyping the fight. I watched the intense weigh-ins and face-off between Brandao and McGregor yesterday and wanted to see if Diego Brandao can really do any damage against the brash Irishman. I felt a mixed reaction after the fight, and after the post-fight interview.
In the in-cage post fight interview with Dan Hardy, "The Notorious" maximized his microphone time and put it to good use as he furthered his hype.
After Fight night 46 he probably believes he has even more reasons to be hyped after winning in a UFC main event albeit defeating a lower ranked opponent.
I look at a potential fight vs The Korean Zombie in this way:
First, Mcgregor has yet to fight a top contender, so it is not yet time to talk about a fight against former Lightweight champion, perennial challenger and #2 ranked FW Frankie Edgar.
#3 Cub Swanson is next in line to challenge whoever wins the Jose Aldo vs. Chad Mendes fight.
As for Ricardo Lamas, Conor doesn't care about him, and Lamas feels the same. For what it's worth, I also don't care about this fight.
Just last month, after Cub Swanson defeated Jeremy Stephens, The Korean Zombie tweeted:
@CubSwanson Fight me.
— Chan Sung Jung (@KoreanZombieMMA) June 29, 2014
But as mentioned, Cub Swanson is booked for a title shot. THE Korean Zombie Chan Sung Jung last fought in the octagon a year ago in a losing effort against current FW champion Jose Aldo. He injured his shoulder in that fight, and then got married in March this year. Conor McGregor fought 2 fights in the UFC and then headlined a fight in his hometown, had a whiskey with Lorenzo Fertitta after his "mission accomplished". In contrast, The Korean Zombie, who earned a relatively small purse of $20,000 in his last UFC fight, had to fly into hostile territory to challenge for Aldo's belt in his hometown Brazil. |
I didn't see The Korean Zombie's name floating around in the internet reactions after Fight night 46, but I'm pretty sure if it comes down to it, he is a willing and able, Top Featherweight fighter to welcome Conor McGregor to the division's elite. I just hope the UFC would pay more next time since Conor McGregor is one of the most highly regarded fighters today.