UFC Houston: Korean Zombie's Return a Much Needed Boost at Featherweight
Chan Sung Jung’s performance at UFC Houston was a complete surprise for many. Not that he won, but how good he looked finishing Dennis Bermudez within one round.
Chan Sung Jung’s return after years of mandatory military service was one of the more hotly anticipated fights of 2017’s first quarter. Yet few expected the immediate impact that The Korean Zombie made with his Performance of the Night finish. His opponent, Dennis Bermudez, is a tough out for just about anyone in the weight class. Yet Zombie — as he prefers to be called, to the point that he had the UFC listing his nickname on the broadcast rather than his given name — made short work of him. He looked as if he hadn’t missed a step.
To put it in perspective, Jung’s last trip to the Octagon was in 2013, in a valiant but losing effort against champion Jose Aldo.
Not much has changed since then. Make no mistake, a lot has happened — but little has changed.
In the time in which The Korean Zombie left to serve in South Korea’s military, and then returned, Conor McGregor rose to heights never before seen in the UFC. He captured the featherweight crown — then headed up to lightweight, took the belt in that division, and was stripped of his featherweight title. The belt was handed back to Aldo, the same man who ruled the roost when The Korean Zombie left the sport.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
The top contenders are more or less the same. Frankie Edgar, Cub Swanson, Chad Mendes (though the latter is serving a lengthy suspension) — really, probably the biggest change in Jung’s absence was the rise of Max Holloway. Holloway is now the interim champ.
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It’s not that the division is stale, exactly, but McGregor elevated it to new heights. When he left, forced or otherwise, it became apparent how much of the last few years was really just the McGregor show. In fact, the only fresh blood of late has been another South Korean star — Doo Ho Choi.
Zombie’s return feels like a huge boost with all this in mind. He feels like a fresh face in the division, no matter how long he’s been in the game. The fans are ready to get behind him (that was clear by the sea of red Zombie shirts Saturday, and the huge ovation he received with the win).
It’s crazy to think that to date, Jung has had just five fights in the UFC. Only five, yet he is tied for the official record for fastest knockout in promotion history (7 seconds), and owns one of the slickest submissions in UFC history with his Twister finish of Leonard Garcia, a UFC first.
Tantalizing match-ups await: who wouldn’t want to see Zombie vs. Swanson, Holloway, or an eventual rematch with Aldo?
No matter who he’s paired up with, one thing is clear: fans can’t wait for him to get back in the Octagon and make up for lost time.
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