Mixed martial arts biggest promotion returns to Brazil tonight as featherweight champion Jose Aldo defends his belt against the always tough Chan Sung Jung (a.k.a The Korean Zombie) at UFC 163. This evening's event has a scheduled start time of 10:00pm ET at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro; the main card can be seen live on Pay Per View while seven undercard matchups will be featured live on the FX Network and Facebook. The latest fight predictions and odds have Aldo listed as a heavy -625 moneyline favorite ($625 wins $100) in his meeting with Jung. The Korean Zombie, a fill in for the injured Anthony Pettis, is drawing +425 odds to take the featherweight strap from the 26 year old Brazilian. In the co-main event former light heavyweight champion Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida is listed as a -340 favorite to defeat rising contender Phil Davis (+260).
Chan Sung Jung is an improving, well rounded fighter with eight of his 13 career wins coming by way of submission. Jung is also 3-0 since joining the UFC with impressive victories against Leonard Garcia (second round submission), Mark Hominick (first round knockout), and Dustin Poirier (fourth round submission), but he is taking a big step up in competition this evening.
Jose Aldo, who owns a 22-1 professional record, has won 15 consecutive fights and he has successfully defended his featherweight belt six times (dating back to his WEC days), taking out the likes of Urijah Faber, Kenny Florian, Chad Mendes, and Frankie Edgar in the process.
Aldo, however, has not finished fights with a great deal of frequency of late with four of his last six scraps going to a decision, but that probably says more about his recent competition than any sort of decline in the Brazilian's game. It should also be noted that Aldo was never really threatened in any of those four fights that went the distance, with the possible exception of the Edgar clash, as he won each of them in unanimous fashion.
UFC 163 Fight Prediction: Jung, who has only been finished once in his career, does pose a threat to Aldo, but the Brazilian is the quicker, more powerful striker. The Korean Zombie would probably do well to get the fight to the ground, but Aldo, who is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Black Belt, probably has the advantage there as well.
UFC 163 Odds:
Jose Aldo -625 vs Chan Sung Jung +425 (Main Card PPV)
Lyoto Machida -340 vs Phil Davis +260 (Main Card PPV)
Cezar Ferreira -500 vs Thiago Santos +350 (Main Card PPV)
Tom Watson -115 vs Thales Leites -115 (Main Card PPV)
John Lineker -450 vs Jose Maria +300 (Main Card PPV)
Vinicius Magalhaes -450 vs Anthony Perosh +300 (FX Network)
Amanda Nunes -340 vs Sheila Gaff +260 (FX Network)
Sergio Moraes -125 vs Neil Magny -105 (FX Network)
Ian McCall -450 vs Iliarde Santos +300 (FX Network)
Rani Yahya -850 vs Josh Clopton +550 (Facebook)
Viscardi Andrade -200 vs Bristol Marunde +160 (Facebook)
Ednaldo Oliveira -150 vs Francimar Barroso +120 (Facebook)
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