The Korean Zombie Is Primed To Make History

This was particularly stark in his effort against Dan Ige. In what felt like a must-win fight for Jung in terms of maintaining his position at the top of the rankings, he turned in a gritty performance that included much more grappling than most are accustomed to seeing from him. The unanimous decision win was his first since 2008, as well as the first time he’d gone to the judges in consecutive fights since that same year. However, it was the kind of highly technical performance Eddie Cha, Jung’s full-time head coach since 2019, wanted from his fighter-turned-friend.

“Some people are kind of blaming me for making the new Zombie boring, but I look at longevity,” Cha said. “Our coaching staff talked about it. With the style that he had back then, there’s no way that he’d still be fighting now. They’re literally wars. We’re looking for Performance of the Night, not Fight of the Night for Zombie. We kind of mixed in some more of a distance game. Being more patient. Slowing the fight down, so to speak, with wrestling and so forth.”

That said, it hasn’t been a smooth or conventional path back to a title shot. Limited to six fights since then, including no fights from mid-2013 to early-2017 while he served his mandatory military service, momentum was hard to come by. Losses to Yair Rodriguez and Brian Ortega kept him from becoming the clear No. 1 contender, but the longtime fan favorite finally saw the chips fall his way when Max Holloway fell out of a trilogy fight with Volkanovski.

At 5 a.m. in South Korea, Jung woke to several phone calls from Cha in Arizona. While he was asleep, a title shot had been offered, and they needed to provide an answer. Naturally, he accepted, and it was time to get to work. Despite the replacement nature of the fight, Jung and his team have been able to prepare for the fight since January, and he doesn’t feel like he is just stepping in for Holloway. He believes he has earned this opportunity in full. 

Heading To Singapore? Get Your Tickets For UFC 275: Teixeira vs Prochazka

“There are some more unreasonable title fights if comparing with mine,” he said. “Compared with those title fights, I am feeling fine. If we count who should be the title challenger in the Top 5, I think I am just right after Holloway.” 

“There are some more unreasonable title fights if comparing with mine,” he said. “Compared with those title fights, I am feeling fine. If we count who should be the title challenger in the Top 5, I think I am just right after Holloway.” 

With a shot in tow, next came gameplanning. The team at Fight Ready MMA is particularly keen on watching film with their fighters and simulating their opponents as closely as possible as many times as possible throughout camp with what they call “play sparring.” Against Volkanovski, that’s especially important. 

UFC 273 FREE FIGHTS: Gilbert Burns vs Demian Maia |  Petr Yan vs Aljamain Sterling | Khamzat Chimaev vs Li Jingliang | Petr Yan vs Cory Sandhagen

Heading into UFC 273, “The Great” is riding a 20-fight winning streak, including wins over Ortega, Aldo and Holloway (twice). His last loss, coincidentally, came about three months before Zombie’s loss to Aldo in 2013, and that fight was contested at welterweight. 

Needless to say, Cha understands he has his hands full preparing Jung for this fight, but all the accolades in the world could not shake his confidence in Jung.

“(Volkanovski) kind of reminds me of Frankie Edgar at 155 back in the day,” Cha said. “At 145, his height, he’s not supposed to do what he’s been able to do, but on the flip side to it, Zombie matches up well against anybody shorter than him. I know their reach is fairly similar, but just height-wise, Zombie does really, really well against shorter opponents. We’re looking to get him out of there kind of quick. I hope we have a short night out there, and that’s it.”

RELATED: The Korean Zombie | Fab Five

In fact, looking at Zombie’s record, all but one of his six professional losses have come to fighters as tall or taller than him, Aldo being the exception. As Cha noted, Volkanovski is unique in that his reach (71 inches) is far greater than his 5-foot-6 stature, and the Aussie has shown a deep repertoire of technical sharpness in every area of the fight.

Most betting services have Jung slated as a 5-to-1 betting underdog, which is probably more of a compliment to the champion than a diss to the challenger, but that’s not something Jung is too miffed about. He said he is “happy” to accept the position. All that matters to him is winning the belt, which would make him the first Asian man to hold the UFC belt, something that Cha feels notably excited about.

“This would be making history,” he said. “This would be something special. Zombie is like a family member of mine. His family has stayed at my house for months, and we’ve got to know each other really well. This one is special. I’d give my arm to get that title for him. I’d do whatever it took.”

It’s been a long, arduous path to this position for Jung. In fact, when he steps into the Octagon in Jacksonville, he will set a new record, previously held by Dan Henderson, for most days between title shots at 3,171. 

Each step of the way, he has brought fireworks. April 9 represents his ninth consecutive main event. In his 12 fights under the Zuffa banner, he has tallied nine performance bonuses and has ingratiated himself with fight fans across the world as must-watch TV each time he steps into the cage. 

All that’s left is gold, and Jung believes he is a much smarter fighter than the one that swung recklessly until he couldn’t against Aldo in 2013. At UFC 273, he gets his chance to prove it once and for all.

“I think the previous experiences will help me a lot this time,” Jung said. “I think this is the experience. This is from the experience (against José Aldo). This time, I feel nothing different with any other bout."