SFM September 2015_high reg - page 23

SCRAPP! FIGHT MAGAZINE
September - 2015
23
Cejudo seems to be the biggest challenge left
for Johnson. He transitioned to mixed martial
arts five years after winning the gold medal in
freestyle wrestling in the 2008 Beijing Olympics
in the 55kg (~121lbs) weight class. The wres-
tling standout’s first fight in the UFC was in the
bantamweight division after being forced to pull
out of a flyweight debut due to weight cutting
issues.
The most surprising aspect of his first fight was
the high-level striking Cejudo displayed. Ce-
judo’s unlucky opponent, Dustin Kimura, was
given no room to breathe on the feet as “The
Messenger” landed three-times the strikes that
Kimura connected. The scary part was that Ce-
judo had no need to take down his opponent to
be dominant.
Cejudo showed off his world-class wrestiling in
his second UFC fight against Chris Cariaso. He
took down the long-time veteran at will, land-
ing six of seven attempted take downs in an-
other lopsided victory. The olympian’s third fight
was a different story. Cejudo was barely able to
get by Chico Camus, landing just one takedown
out of an abysmal fifteen attempts. What was
also worrisome about this performance was Ce-
judo’s ineffectiveness striking from a distance.
Camus continuously got the better of their strik-
ing exchanges, forcing Cejudo to win the fight
in clinching range. The undefeated Cejudo has
seemingly one last opportunity to prove that his
last fight was a fluke against the third-ranked
flyweight Jussier Formiga, a fight that should
present a new challenger to Demetrious John-
son’s throne.
Formiga is an interesting case. He has a ter-
rific ground game, but very mediocre striking.
Formiga is on an impressive three-fight win
streak, with victories over Scott Jorgensen and
top prospects Wilson Reis and Zach Makovsky.
The Brazilian has relied on his grappling to get
to this point, which severely limits his chances
against top contenders in his division. We have
seen these limitations come to play in his knock-
out losses against Joseph Benavidez and John
Dodson. There is no doubt that he will have his
hands full with Cejudo in his next fight. How-
ever, if he is able to come away with a submis-
sion victory, he will have a sure-fire case to fight
Johnson.
Borg is a few fights away from title contention,
but he has looked incredible during his current
three-fight win streak. The thirteenth-ranked
flyweight’s outstanding workrate was most evi-
dent in his last fight against Geane Herrera, in
which he completed an unprecedented nine-
teen ground passes off three takedowns. Her-
rera was effectively smothered on the ground
and given no opportunities to get off his back.
Borg rounds out his game with very good strik-
ing as well, using a knee-buckling overhand
right as his specialty. The Arizona native is a
wrestler first-and-foremost, but he is very effec-
tive at chaining together strikes and takedowns.
The challenge he would present in the future to
Johnson would be his non-stop pace. Borg does
not use top position to rest, he is consistently
seeking more dominant positions. As we saw
Saturday, it is possible to take Johnson down,
keeping him down is the main issue. With a lit-
tle more fine-tuning to his game, “The Tazmexi-
can” can be a great challenge to the champion
in the future.
Henry Cejudo
Jussier Formiga
Ray Borg
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