Capping off the UFC 293 preliminary card was a light heavyweight affair featuring City Kickboxing’s Carlos Ulberg, throwing down with South Korea’s Da Un Jung.
The card to that point was a bit of a mixed bag for Oceania-based fighters, with Ulberg’s teammates Shane Young and Blood Diamond suffering setbacks, while Jamie Mullarkey had captured a solid win against Canadian veteran John Makdessi.
Jung was looking to snap a two-fight skid at UFC 293, but Ulberg, with four straight wins, had other ideas.
It was Jung opening the fight with a kick, and kicks were the name of the game early, with both fighters favoring them over letting their hands go. That continued to be the case through much of the first two minutes, until Ulberg finally moved in with a short combo. Ulberg then threw out a jab, Jung jabbed to the body, and the South Korean worked to cut off the cage, staying ahead of Ulberg. Jung’s distance game failed him towards the end of the round, however, with Ulberg getting close enough to land a right hand, dropping Da Un Jung! Ulberg swarmed, firing lefts and rights, but Jung was able to make it back to his feet. Without question, the feel of the round had changed, with what was a close round now likely going to Carlos Ulberg.
Following that scare towards the end of round one, Da Un Jung found himself faced with a Carlos Ulberg who opened round to holding center. Ulberg pressed forward, but drew a warning from the ref for having his fingers outstretched. Jung, meanwhile, worked his jab, and took over leading the dance, moving to center himself and again cutting off the cage as Ulberg circled outside, similar to their positioning in the opening frame.
Near the midway mark of the second, Ulberg hit home with a couple of strikes. These had less on them, with Jung staying upright, but they were effective nonetheless. Moments later, Ulberg’s jab landed on a bloodied Jung, snapping his head back. The damage was telling the story; Ulberg, though he wasn’t landing a lot, was landing effectively. Da Un Jung was barely landing at all, outside of his leg kicks. And as good as those kicks had looked, they weren’t having the desired effect through the opening two rounds. Ulberg closed out the round landing three to four straight jabs.
Round three saw Jung in need of turning up the heat, and he did manage to land a few shots off a combination fired about two minutes in. But Jung could not capitalize, while Ulberg mixed up his jab and kicks, working from the outside along the fence. When the pair came together, Ulberg put his weight on his opponent, firing knees, with Jung answering in kind off the break. Then, with two minutes or so on the clock, Jung drove into a takedown, landing it — only for Ulberg to pop right back up. Time, however, was becoming an issue, and that takedown, and more of them, would have been better off arriving earlier in the fight.
Moments later, it was Ulberg landing his own takedown, then unloading left hands while Jung covered up. Da Un Jung was bloodied and barely surviving, leading the the ref to take a close look. Ulberg switched to a rear-naked choke, with Jung gutting it out to the final buzzer in a losing effort. Video review, however, showed Jung tap prior to the buzzer, resulting in Ulberg claiming his first submission win. Jung had tapped to the fence side, with the ref’s view blocked, but the cameras had a bird’s eye view of the finish, with the right call being made.
Official Result: Carlos Ulberg def. Da Un Jung by submission (rear-naked choke), Round 3, 4:49
