Underrated Card Produces in Houston
A UFC schedule is not like any other professional league as there isn’t really an off-season with events running throughout the year.
There are some busier times and some slower times but overall they are constantly running through events.
It wasn’t always like that as the UFC used to host one event every month on pay-per-view until they signed a deal with Spike and began running two events every month, one free and one on pay-per-view.
Now there are times where every week has a fight with a pay-per-view almost once a month and a number of free fights in between the paid fights.
It is a massive issue for some fans as the amount of events has caused some to be watered down with less talent in every card even the big events.
Proof of that was this weekend as the UFC held their annual Super Bowl weekend fight.
It is one of the few constant dates on the UFC calendar as they will always host a fight on the Saturday before the biggest single day sporting event in North America.
Until 2016 this fight was always a pay-per-view fight with big names on top as they looked to truly make a mark on a big sports weekend.
Last year it was a free fight although still a fight card that was good if not as great as those big cards.
This year the level fell in a big way as the fights on the card were great for those who love the UFC and MMA but for all of the outsiders it was essentially forgotten.
It was a continuation of what has been a lacklustre start to the year for the UFC who ended the year with some massive fights.
Instead of starting off the year in a big way they have yet to put on a pay-per-view event and the two events so far have not really brought out the fans outside of the world of MMA.
Unless you were a UFC fan you may not even have known that the UFC had put on a fight card recently.
For some, there won’t be a card worth watching until the beginning of March at UFC 209 where some big names are set to face-off in big fights.
It might be a sign that the UFC is stretching itself too thin to be that superpower in the sports world.
To get eyes on the sport that are more than just the super fans they might want to think of putting on fewer fights with bigger names, two a month is not a bad idea.
The new owners of the promotion have already hinted at reducing the number of events and with the start of this year, there may be more motivation to do just that.
The lack of big names doesn’t mean that these fights are necessarily bad as in most cases they can be better than the fights between the biggest names in the promotion.
They are also important for the fighters themselves as the more fights they have the more chance the fighters without big names can get noticed.
That is what was at stack for Dennis Bermudez and Chan Sung Jung as the UFC travelled to the home of the Super Bowl on the big weekend.
Both fighters are recognisable by the big fans but by everyone else they are relatively unknown which is slightly disappointing as they have a tendency to put on exciting fights.
Bermudez has done it with power in his hands and a wrestling background that has earned him a few performance bonuses in his fights.
Jung has also earned some bonuses including one of his twister submission that put him on the map.
Inconsistency has kept Bermudez out of the top of the division as he struggles to put together some big runs through the division.
For Jung, it was his responsibilities as a Korean that slowed him down after his title shot loss to Jose Aldo.
Jung went from a meteoric rise in the division back to his home country to serve in the military for two years of compulsory service.
He returned after three years away to get another shot at the title in the featherweight division.
With both fighters used to being bonus contenders, this fight had the potential to be a great one worthy of Super Bowl weekend.
It turned out to be worthy of the big weekend as both fighters were ready to go from the opening horn.
Jung made good on his nickname as the “Korean Zombie” took punishment from Bermudez right from the start.
Bermudez hit Jung with a few really hard shots that would have dropped most people but Jung kept going forward and never went down.
Eventually, that paid off as Bermudez continued to try to end the fight and walked forward right into a big right uppercut from Jung.
That uppercut ended the fight and Jung’s three-year absence from the octagon was officially over thanks to a big win.
The loss for Bermudez is just more inconsistency from the young fighter as he will need to work his way back up once again.
For Jung, the win is a great restart for his career and another finish as he will hope to take this back to the title.
The fight turned out to be great while the rest of the card was great as well but not many saw it as the card didn’t get those outside of the MMA world excited, something that is becoming much more common.
The Sport Addiction 