"The entire world is going to be surprised with his armbar." Dong Sik Yoon said it before the fight and who would ever have thought that this was such an accurate prediction? It was that close. In fact this fight could’ve gone either way. Shinya Aoki was dominated in the first round. Jung Bukyung right from the beginning snapped on a perfect armbar from the guard. Aoki’s arm looked like it was complete extended but somehow he got out. But midway through the first, Bukyung executed another armbar. This one was also tight but again, Aoki barely got out of it. In the majority of the first round, Aoki insisted on leg locks but Bukyung defended every attack and because of these two armbar attempts, Bukyung looked like he was ahead on the judges’ scorecards. But in the second round Aoki played it safe. He closed in on Bukyung, took it to the ground. Passed the guard, and got to the mount position. And from there Aoki dropped a series of punches to the point that it almost looked like the referee was ready to stop the fight. Less than a minute left in the fight, Aoki went for an armbar but Bukyung defended this and that was the end of the fight. Aoki took the decision probably due to the damage factor.
At the post fight interview, Aoki gave full credit to Bukyung, an Olympic silver medallist in judo, "Ordinarily that (armbar) would be the end but instantly I was able to get out of it. The first one was deeper though. Bukyung has a strong heart. If he gains more experience he is going to be a very good fighter." Aoki also talked about his plans for the future, a fight with J.Z. Calvan in March."
PIC: Jung Bukyung almost had it with this armbar.
