There was a time -- and honestly, a time not that long ago -- when the Ultimate Fighting Championship's Super Bowl weekend cards were massive festivities, double title headliners and the like. This year, we did not get anything near that on the paper, but in actual practice? Well, we saw some surprises in Houston on Feb. 4 that have real rankings impact.
It has been nearly three and a half years since Chan Sung Jung lost his UFC featherweight title challenge against Jose Aldo, injuring his shoulder and taking time off before being forced to serve his mandatory South Korean military service. In his return, ring rust did not even have time to come to the forefront, as Jung laid waste to perennial top-10 and bubble-list talent Dennis Bermudez with a sensational right uppercut in less than three minutes. With a brilliant win over a quality opponent, “The Korean Zombie” pops back into our ranks at No. 9.
It was not just the return of an all-time great action fighter, though. The women's 115-pound mix is looking for challengers, but in “H-Town,” previously unbeaten Mexican prospect Alexa Grasso suffered her first career loss to veteran Felice Herrig and falls off our contenders list. Who stepped up big? Former 135-pound competitor Jessica Andrade moved to 3-0 in the Octagon at strawweight, outdueling Angela Hill in a 15-minute slugfest to remember and installing herself as a very intriguing challenger for the queen of the sport: Joanna Jedrzejczyk.
Also, Ovince St. Preux drops from our 205-pound rankings courtesy of his ugly split decision loss to late replacement Volkan Oezdemir. What can we say? This is the light heavyweight division.
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