UFC 140 fight card: Chan Sung Jung vs Mark Hominick preview

Two of the most talented and entertaining featherweights on the planet will collide this Saturday night (December 10, 2011) when Chan Sung Jung takes on former featherweight title challenger Mark Hominick in the opening bout of the UFC 140 main card.

Chan Sung Jung has exploded in popularity with American fans, partly because of his wild fighting style that saw him earn “Fight of the Year” in his debut on US soil and partly because of his awesome nickname and stylish T-shirts. He’s now coming off a “Submission of the Year”-winner in his UFC debut and is looking to build on that momentum against one of the best featherweights on the planet.

Mark Hominick gave Jose Aldo his toughest test to date in his title fight at UFC 129, surviving some heavy punishment and coming back to dominate in a fifth round that had his native Canadian crowd in a full-on frenzy. He’s back in front of his hometown fans once more and does not want to let them down.

Will “The Korean Zombie” feast on some of Hominick’s limbs with his aggressive submission skills?? Will Hominick’s boxing be enough to keep Jung at bay? What’s the best gameplan for each fighter to earn a victory in the opening bout of the UFC 140 main card?

Let’s find out”

Chan Sung Jung

Record: 11-3 overall, 1-0 in the UFC

Key Wins: Leonard Garcia (UFC Fight Night 24), Michihiro Omigawa (Deep: Gladiator)

Key Losses: George Roop (WEC 51)

How he got here: Hailing from Korea, Chan Sung Jung made a huge splash in the MMA landscape when he made his professional debut in 2007. With a strong background in taekwondo, kickboxing, Brazilian jiu-jitsu and even Russian combat sambo, he had the skills to dominate lesser foes.

He quickly earned a reputation for his constant aggression and his mentality of taking a punch to give one, earning the nickname “The Korean Zombie.” After a run in Sengoku where he was robbed of a victory by biased judges who favored Japanese fighters of Koreans, he was signed by the WEC and made his debut on Spike TV prelims against Leonard Garcia.

We all know how that turned out, one of the wildest sloppiest and most entertaining fights in the history of the sport, although he would one again lose a controversial decision. The talented Korean would learn a rough lesson in his next fight against George Roop when his style played right into the hands of the lanky American who knocked him out with a vicious head kick.

In his last bout, Jung earned his revenge against Leonard Garcia with a “Submission of the Year”-winning twister and he’s ready for another major step up in competition, taking on Hominick on his home turf.

How he gets it done: Jung has strong striking skills, but his natural, crazy aggressive style will play right into Hominick’s terrific boxing. He would be keen to be more patient, keep it on the outside and utilize some of his kicks or other unorthodox attacks.

When the time is right, Jung should work for a takedown and try to utilize his terrific ground skills. Hominick has been prone to aggressive submission fighters in the past as evidenced by his losses to Josh Grispi, Rani Yahya and Hatsu Hioki, although he’s definitely improving.

A key for “The Korean Zombie” will be to try to remain on top of Hominick, avoid his sweeps and work from there. “The Machine” has a solid top game of his own and is very difficult to submit from bottom, as he showed against Jose Aldo earlier this year.

In my opinion, Jung needs to get this fight to the ground if he wants to win.

by Brian Hemminger via UFC 140 fight card: Chan Sung Jung vs Mark Hominick preview – MMAmania.com.