Light Heavyweights
#15 LHW | Dustin Jacoby (17-5-1, 5-2-1 UFC) vs. Da Un Jung (15-2-1)This excellent fight flies under the radar, as two rising light heavyweights get stern tests. Jacoby’s return to the UFC has been shockingly successful, particularly given how forgettable his first stint was. Jacoby was signed in 2011, lost two untelevised prelims over the course of three months and was released shortly thereafter. From there, Jacoby eventually fell into a kickboxing career, putting together some solid success before transitioning back to mixed martial arts in 2020 and earning a UFC contract with a win on Dana White’s Contender Series. Jacoby has gone undefeated since, and it has been interesting to watch him thread a needle at light heavyweight. He has been able to command a lot of his opponents with striking from range—an approach that traditionally figures to get blown up in the athlete-heavy waters at light heavyweight. Despite some occasional troubles, most notably against Ion Cutelaba in a fight that went to a draw, “The Hanyak” has been able to coast his way to victory and quietly move up the ladder, with this interesting test against Jung coming up next. Jung is an obvious talent who has flashed a lot of different things through five UFC fights—with one draw as part of an undefeated record in the Octagon—though it is still hard to get a read on exactly how “Sseda” approaches things as a result. Jung came to the UFC as a fighter who can be patient to a fault, which has shown up at times, particularly in that lone draw against Sam Alvey in 2020. At other times, Jung just simply lays a beating on his opponent, whether it was a quick knockout of Mike Rodriguez in 2019 or his most recent fight, which saw him use some vicious elbows to put away Kennedy Nzechukwu in about three minutes. Then there is Jung’s win over William Knight, which saw the Korean pivot to a wrestling-heavy strategy that, while extremely successful, was not foreshadowed and has not appeared since. The overall package seems set to coalesce into something impressive, but at the moment, it is unclear what to make of how Jung is going to approach this fight, particularly as a tricky affair for both men. Each fighter tends to work best when isolated by his height and reach, and whoever winds up being more comfortable with this “tall man” dynamic figures to have a lot of opportunities to take over the fight. The Alvey bout does raise some worry that Jung could be cowed by fighting someone with the potential to hit him at all times, but it does feel like the Korean has more options with which to work, particularly with that wrestling in his back pocket if he decides to go that route once again. In what essentially feels like a coinflip, the pick is Jung via decision.
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