Back in October on Fight Island, Korean Zombie welcomed back Brian Ortega back to the Octagon and dropped a clear-cut decision loss.
Heading into the fight, Chan Sung Jung aka Korean Zombie was a big favorite. Many expected Zombie to be able to outstrike Ortega and get the win due to Ortega’s layoff. He hadn’t fought since he suffered a beatdown at the hands of Max Holloway in December of 2018. Yet, Ortega surprised many as he was a much better striker and landed a big elbow that dropped Zombie early on.
According to Cha, after the elbow, Korean Zombie was never able to recover.
“Nothing to take away from Brian. I thought he fought a great fight and everything else. And a lot of people were saying we weren’t ready for the southpaw stance, and the kicks, and everything else, and 100% we were,” Eddie Cha said to MMANews about Korean Zombie’s loss to Brian Ortega. “And I think getting caught with the elbow, (Chan Sung Jung) wasn’t able to recover. All in all, it’s a fight. It is what it is. He’ll be ready to go this camp around. There’ll be a lot of adjustments.”
After the loss, Korean Zombie admitted he went into depression and gained a ton of weight. He hinted at a move to lightweight due to not being able to get a fight. Instead, the fan-favorite will return in the main event of UFC Vegas 29 against Dan Ige.
If Korean Zombie can rebound and beat Ige on Saturday, he will be back in position to fight a top-five opponent. With Alex Volkanovski set to defend his title against Ortega and Max Holloway fighting Yair Rodriguez in July, the featherweight division will see some movement at the top and it starts on Saturday with Zombie vs Ige.
Do you think Korean Zombie will beat Dan Ige on Saturday night at UFC Vegas 29?
