Greetings MMA fans, we’ve got a treat for you this evening! Welcome to our live coverage of UFC on FUEL 3: The Korean Zombie vs. Dustin Poirier. In the main event, two of the top featherweights in the world face off with a potential title shot at UFC Featherweight champion Jose Aldo on the line.
Our live card coverage will begin at 8 PM ET so come hang out for tonight’s results.
Chan Sung “The Korean Zombie” Jung vs. Dustin Poirier (Five-Round Fight)
Round 1 –
Both fighters touch gloves and look very confident. Jung opens up with a nice leg kick. Poirier counters with a kick of his own, and another but Jung catches it and is on top. Poirier sweeps, is in single leg and now has Jung pressed against the cage. Jung has a good poker face going and shows no concern, landing knees to the body while Poirier lands body punches. Jung trips Poirier and lands right in side control. Poirier’s feet are on the cage and it looks like he’s about to push off but Jung negates that with body weight control. Poirier gets back to full guard. Jung lands a nice crisp elbow. Poirier is cut on the forehead. Jung lands a sick left elbow. Poirier lands two nice upkicks and executes a nice sweep and Poirier is now in Jung’s guard. Jung is looking to wall walk, but is content with sticking there because Poirier isn’t very active. They exchange strike and Poirier tries to close the round with a takedown, but got stuffed. Jung takes the round. He has blood on his face and it looks like he ate a person; very fitting to his Korean Zombie nickname. 10-9 Jung.
Round 2 –
Poirier goes for a body kick but Jung catches it again and falls to his back. Zombie is standing over him and lands some decent strikes, but ends up in Poirier’s guard. Jung stands back up and lands a serious left hand. Poirier was going for a leg lock but Zombie sees it coming and backs off. Zombie lands a nice strike, goes for a flying knee and Poirier isn’t striking back. His back is against the cage and Zombie is repeatedly throwing strikes, Poirier goes for a takedown but Zombie rolls through and lands in full mount! Poirier tries to roll out of it, almost gets caught in an armbar, escapes, almost gets caught in a triangle, escapes, and then almost gets caught in ANOTHER armbar. Poirier escapes and rolls though and ends up getting on top in side control. Poirier is on top, tries to get the momentum on his side but ends up on the bad side of another triangle attempt at the end of the round. The horn sounds and the round is over. 10-9 Jung.
Round 3 –
Poirier opens up, yet again, with a leg kick. Poirier lands a solid straight left. The two are trading punches now and are contempt with keeping it standing. Zombie looks a bit slow, maybe he’s fatigued or playing opossum. Zombie throws a good flurry while Poirier’s back was against the cage. Jung is getting the best of the exchanges due to his counter striking ability. Zombie lands a nice takedown and lands right in the crucifix position. Poirier escapes quickly and they’re both back standing. Poirier is landing nice strikes and the target is the left eye of Zombie; Zombie has a nice welt under his left eye. Zombie is really looking fantastic in terms of octagon control. He’s taking this fight wherever he wants, whenever he wants. Poirier lands a short left hook. Poirier is picking up the pace and is landing more signifiant strikes as Zombie tires out. Poirier stole the round. 10-9 Poirier.
Round 4 –
Jung goes for a head kick but it’s blocked. Poirier lands two nice right punches. As Poirier connects with a couple punches, Jung lands a nice knee to the body. Jung lands a sick uppercut and throws a BJ Penn/Sean Sherk-esque knee. Poirier goes for a takedown but Jung sprawls and Poirier walks right into a D’Arce Choke, and it’s game over!
Winner: Chan Sung Jung by submission (D’Arce Choke) 1:10 into Round 4
Amir Sadollah vs. Jorge Lopez
Round 1 –
Both fighters open with an active pace. Lopez is throwing reckless left and right hooks, while Sadollah throws his signature straight kicks to keep distance. Sadollah lands an inside leg kick, and Lopez counters with an outside leg kick. Lopez goes inside and presses the action against the cage and had double underhooks. It doesn’t look like he’s going to try and take it down as he’s only throwing knees, and he eventually throws Sadollah away; both men are standing again. Lopez shoots for a takedown, Sadollah blocks it but Lopez still has a hold of him. Lopez lands a takedown after avoiding a guillotine attempt. Sadollah turns the tables, gets back up and now Lopez’s back is against the cage. Lopez’s round. 10-9 Lopez.
Round 2 –
Lopez opens with a body kick, and goes for a takedown but is stuffed. The two stay grappling for almost a minute against the cage wall before they separate. Sadollah is going forward and landing punches and staight kicks, but as he goes in Lopez closes the distance. Sadollah’s back is against the cage AGAIN but Lopez put himself in a position where he almost got put away with a standing power guillotine. Sadollah lands another good body kick. Sadollah almost landed a good body kick but Lopez countered with a takedown. Sadollah tries to cage-walk his way to his feet but the round is over. It was a pretty close round but Sadollah controlled the fight and put on a nice display of striking. 10-9 Sadollah.
Round 3 –
Both fighters open with a fast pace but Lopez chose to close the distance yet again and press Sadollah against the cage. Sadollah looks like he has the chance to go for the power guillotine again. The two separate and they’re back in the middle of the octagon. Sadollah landed a straight front kick to Lopez’s face, clean. Lopez senses he’s in trouble once again, brings the fight to the ground and is taking his time with strikes making it look like he’s working. Sadollah is doing a good job at defending transitions, but is not really trying to reverse anything into a position for himself. The crowd boos, the referee gives in and the two are standing again. Lopez looks like he’s very tired and Sadollah looks to be pressing the action, but Lopez once again presses Sadollah against the octagon. The fight closes with Sadollah landing a good knee. Every time Sadollah looked like he was going in for the kill, Lopez would counter with grappling and bringing the fight to the cage wall or the ground. Lopez 10-9.
Winner: Amir Sadollah by split decision (29-28 Sadollah, 29-28 Lopez, 29-28 Sadollah)
Donald Cerrone vs. Jeremy Stephens
Round 1 –
Fight opens up without a touch of the gloves. Stephens opens up with a leg kick, and both fighters are keeping their distance. Cerrone answers with a leg kick of his own and I’m noticing neither man are checking the leg kicks. Cerrone’s kicks seem to be making more contact and impact. Both fighters are feigning constantly as they know how dangerous each other’s power is. Cerrone throws a kick, Stephens catches it but Cerrone escapes. Stephens lands a nice right-straight body strike. Cerrone’s opening gameplan involves keeping a great distance at a lower pace, with straight kicks and jabs. Stephens blocks a high kick and is off with a counter right. Cerrone is picking up the pace, going in with punches and ending with deep leg kicks. Cerrone is outlanding Stephens in terms of kicks 14 to 7 with only a minute left in the round. Cerrone goes in for a strike, Stephens ducks and counters with a soft right. Overall, an even round early on in terms of striking but Cerrone’s pace picked up toward the end of the round. Taking in the fact that Cerrone controlled where the fight went in the octagon, the round goes to him. 10-9 Cerrone.
Round 2 –
Cerrone is picking up where he left off with the elevated pace. Cerrone is dropping his hands and using head movement to fake out Stephens, he has to be careful. Stephens is still not checking these leg kicks and it’ll add up over time. Cerrone landed a brutal uppercut that put Stephens back against the wall, and Stephens shoots for a takedown. Cerrone sprawls and they’re standing again. Cerrone is finding his range and looks very comfortable compared to Stephens, who is already a bit busted up and fatigued. Cerrone is throwing a barrage of strikes from hooks to straights that sends Stephens’ back against the cage, but he escapes the disadvantageous position and they’re back in the middle of the octagon. While Stephens is in no serious trouble yet, all he’s doing is covering up and not putting on any type of impressive offense. Cerrone lands a buckling leg kick, but Stephens stayed standing. Cerrone looks like he’s going to shoot for a takedown, but he changes it up quickly and trips Stephens to secure the takedown. Cerrone’s round easy after a dominant display of octagon control and damaging striking. Cerrone 10-9.
Round 3 –
The round opens and one of Cerrone’s leg kicks hits Stephens below the belt, right on the cup. Referee calls for a break and Stephens has five minutes to recover. Stephens’ left eye is in bad shape. Cerrone picks up the pace right again with the one-two-leg kick combo. Every leg kick lands with a thud, which means it’s connecting with Cerrone’s shin to the meat of Stephens’ leg which is not good for Stephens. Every time Cerrone feigns a strike, Stephens backs up; Cerrone can win this bout by way of decision if he keeps his distance. Stephens goes in for the clinch but Cerrone counters with a brutal leg kick that sends Stephens to the mat. Both are standing again and Cerrone is continuing with the one-two-leg kick combinations. With two minutes left, there is no sign of urgency from Jeremy Stephens. Every time Stephens goes in for an attack, Cerrone counters with leg kicks. Stephens almost lands a flying knee, but Cerrone ducked right below it. Who says leg kicks don’t win fights? Cerrone takes the third round. 10-9 Cerrone.
Winner: Donald Cerrone by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Jeff Hougland vs. Yves Jabouin
Round 1 –
Early exchanges from both men lead to a leg kick from Jabouin. Front kick from Hougland just misses. Spinning kick from Jabouin. Big leg kick from Jabouin staggers Hougland. Both fighters land jabs. High kick from Jabouin is block. Push kick from Jabouin puts Hougland against the fence. Spinning back kick puts Hougland down hard. He’s grimacing in pain and Jabouin hesitates. That might cost him the finish. Another strike to the body by Jabouin and it looks like he might get the finish, but the round ends with him in mount. 10-9 Jabouin
Round 2 –
Hougland eats a back kick to the body, but is fine. Power double by Hougland is avoided by Jabouin. Spinning back fist from Hougland misses. Unsuccessful takedown from Hougland. Huge overhand right misses from Jabouin. Body kick from Jabouin. Body kick from Hougland. Hougland goes in wildly, but nothing comes of a largely boring round. 10-9 Jabouin
Round 3 –
Big left hook from Jabouin puts Hougland down. Jabouin pounces and works for the finish. Hougland scrambles, but ends up with Jabouin back on top. Jabouin with hammerfists and long strikes as he keeps Hougland pinned to the cage. The fighters end up stood up by the referee and Jabouin lands a kick that puts back onto the mat with Jabouin raining blows down as the round closes. 10-9 Jabouin
Winner: Yves Jabouin by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-27)
Igor Pokrajac vs. Fabio Maldonado
Round 1 –
Overhand right misses for Maldonado. Pokrajac takes him into half guard. Maldonado scrambles, giving up his back before they scramble again and find themselves back into their original position. As Pokrajac tries to take Maldonado’s back, he ends up on his back on the mat. The ref stands them back up and Maldonado delivers several big hooks that threaten to put him down. Big bodyshots from Maldonado and we have a pretty even round thus far as the first stanza ends. 10-9 Pokrajac.
Round 2 –
Leg kick from Okrajac. Big left connects before two more for Pokrajac. He leads in for a takedown and the two begin to fight against the cage. Thai clinch from Pokrajac leads to a partially block knee to the head. The clinch is broken and Maldonado begins boxing with Pokrajac, landing big body shots. The former pro boxer, Maldonado, works away at the mid-section of Pokrajac. High kick misses from Pokrajac. Spinning backfist from Pokrajac is “wiped off” by Maldonado. Takedown attempt is stuffed by Maldonado, who ends up on top as the round ends. 10-9 Maldonado
Round 3 –
Body shots to the liver from Maldonado. Pokrajac pulls another knee into the head of Maldonado and the two men strike against the cage. Flying knee from the clinch from Pokrajac. Dan Miragliotta separates the two with 3 minutes to go. Big hooks from Pokrajac put Maldonado back against the fence. Rapid fire body shots from Maldonado. The ref pulls the apart after Pokrajac loses his mouthpiece. Maldonado coming forward after the restart. Left hook connects from Maldonado. With a minute to go, Pokrajac shows some heart and stands up through some big shots and the two exchange like mad to end the fight. 10-9 Maldonado
Winner: Igor Pokrajac by unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27,29-28)
After we’ve cleared up some internet and coverage issues here at Inside Fights HQ, we are back up for UFC on FUEL.
Tom Lawlor vs. Jason MacDonald ended with a KO for Tom Lawlor. That’s an early result that we missed. Sorry ’bout that, yo.
Main Card (FUEL TV 8PM ET/5PM PT)
