Chan Sung Jung lived up to his Korean Zombie moniker at UFC Fight Night 104, resurrecting his career from the dead with a first-round TKO win over Dennis Bermudez in the main event after three-and-a-half years away from the Octagon.
MMA Junkie tweeted out the official time of the stoppage:
The opening salvo didn't necessarily look great for the South Korean. Early takedown attempts from Bermudez were denied, but he was able to catch Jung flush with multiple strikes early on. The UFC passed along the highlight of one of Bermudez's early strikes:
The Zombie's time away from the cage hasn't affected his chin, though. Jung was able to hang in long enough to find just the right opening and crash a massive uppercut to the chin of Bermudez to end his night and complete the comeback.
Fox Sports tweeted out the vicious end to the bout:
Connor Ruebusch of Bloody Elbow praised the setup from the victor:
With the official return of one of the most exciting fighters in the sport, it's fun to speculate who Jung will fight next. Brett Okamoto of ESPN.com got things started by throwing out Cub Swanson as a possibility:
Jeff Wagenheim of the Washington Post gave some context to just how long The Korean Zombie has been gone:
The career arc of The Korean Zombie is certainly an interesting one. The 29-year-old was considered one of the most exciting fighters in the UFC after transitioning from WEC, stringing together three straight victories that all netted him a performance of the night bonus.
However, Jung was not successful in his bid against Jose Aldo for the featherweight title in 2013, and that was the last that fans had seen of him. Jung chose to fill his two years of mandatory military service to his native South Korea, thus putting his MMA career on hold.
The time spent away from the sport was never fully spent away from the sport, though. The dynamic fighter described the training he did while in the military, per Thomas Gerbasi of the UFC's official website:
Because of all of the injuries and surgeries I had due to MMA, I was placed in a government office job and was able to commute from home. So, when I was done with work, I had time to go to the gym and train. I didn't go at it as intensely as if I was preparing for a fight, but I was able to stay in decent shape, really sharpen and develop my skills and to rehab some old nagging injuries.
With some of those injuries apparently rehabbed and a new perspective on fighting. Jung is an interesting fighter in the division going forward. He obviously has a track record of being worthy of fighting for a title, and this win over Bermudez does nothing to harm that profile.
Bermudez has long been one of the underrated fighters in the featherweight division. The former Ultimate Fighter runner-up has now amassed a 9-3 record since losing to Diego Brandao in the final years ago, with one of those wins coming against current interim champion Max Holloway.
Bermudez came in as a Top 10 fighter in the division looking to make the step up to bona fide contender. Now, it appears that The Korean Zombie might be the forgotten contender looking for a big jump up the rankings.
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