UFC Fight Night 110: Lewis vs. Hunt, better know as UFC Auckland (check out our main card preview), took place this evening (Sunday in New Zealand, Saturday in North America). With a gigantic main event of heavyweights Derrick Lewis and Mark hunt, the event promised some thunderous action — but there was more than just two Goliaths slugging it out on the card. Fight Pass had the early prelims, while the remainder of the card aired on Fox Sports 1.
The Fight Pass preliminary portion of the card was to feature two bouts, including the UFC debut of nineteen year old South Korean Chan-Mi Jeon. Jeon missed weight for the bout, originally expected to be contested at strawweight, and will forfeit 20% of her purse to her opponent, J. J. Aldrich. The fight will go ahead at a 118lb catchweight.
The other UFC Auckland Fight Pass fight was to see Thibault Gouti taking on Dong Hyun Kim, better known as “Maestro” (and not to be confused with Stun Gun Kim). However, just prior to the event, the UFC announced that Gouti had fallen ill, and was removed from the card for precautionary reasons.
Chan-Mi Jeon vs. J. J. Aldrich
With a big cheer from the crowd, they were off. South Korea’s Jeon was active early, throwing kicks, but ate a jab and found herself being forced onto her heels by Aldrich. Jeon continued to work in kicks, going to the body and using her jab to set up leg strikes and combos. It was good back-and-forth action through the first two minutes of the round. Aldrich ate a couple of Jeon rights, and appeared to be feeling some of the Korean fighter’s kicks. Jeon managed to floor Alrich with a knee to the body with about two minutes left in the round, but the American recovered quickly. She began finding a home with some righ hands of her own, and landed an inside leg kick as well. A head kick from Aldrich drew the biggest reaction of the round. It appeared that this point, with a minute or so in the round that Aldrich was figuring out her opponent’s timing, landing more and more frequently.
In the second, Aldrich continued to press forward, at Jeon found herself eating another big shot. The story of the second was the movement and feints of Aldrich, and an increased mixture of strikes being landed. Aldrich continued to find a home for her leg and high kicks, while the South Korean fighter’s own attacks seemed to be telegraphed, with Aldrich easily using her movement to avoid the majority of them. However, with seconds left in the second round, Jeon turned the affair into a brawl, catching her opponent a couple of times before the bell sounded.
Jeon opened the third round with a war cry, that was a first! A minute in the Korean fighter was able to rock Aldrich, but wasn’t able to turn up the heat to capitalize on it. Aldrich continued finding a way to fade back and away from Jeon’s punches. With two minutes to go, Jeon ate a hard spinning kick that bloodied her, but the Korean actually gestured for her opponent to keep bringing it. Towards the end of the third Aldrich began mixing it up, adding in super-punches and jump kicks, looking for a way to finish a fight she was likely up in anyway. Ultimately, it went to the scorecards, with Aldrich taking the one-sided decision.
J. J. Aldrich def. Chan-Mi Jeon by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
UFC Fight Night 110 Fight Pass Preliminary Results
J. J. Aldrich def. Chan-Mi Jeon by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Thibault Gouti vs. Dong Hyun Kim — bout cancelled due to Gouti falling ill
