When Chan Sung Jung, better known as “The Korean Zombie”, steps into the Octagon at UFC 273 this weekend, it will be his second chance at featherweight glory. The first, almost nine years ago, came against then-champion Jose Aldo. At the pre-fight press conference, the Zombie revealed that he was far more afraid of Aldo back then than he is of Volkanovski now.
“When I prepared for my first title fight, I was very nervous. Everything was very new for me and I was very young. At that age, challenging for a world championship title was obviously very unnerving for me. I was very nervous.
Zombie: Aldo was Scarier than Volkanovski
But now I feel I’ve become older, I’m less nervous and I’m more experienced. I’m more prepared for the fight than when I was preparing for the Aldo fight.
When I was in Brazil for the Aldo fight, a lot of the Brazilians out there, whenever they came across me, they were like ‘you’re going to lose, you’re probably going to die in the octagon’ so it was kind of threatening for me. I was nervous when that happened.
Because of that experience right now, I don’t care who walks up to me and says how the results are going to be. I don’t really care. I’m prepared for the fight.”
In that fight, the Zombie ultimately succumbed to Jose Aldo, losing via TKO in the fourth round when he dislocated his shoulder. Sung Jung revealed that, going into that fight, his greatest fear was Aldo’s legendary knockout power. The Zombie earned his nickname by walking down punches and barrages of strikes, and when faced with a striker of Aldo’s caliber, he was afraid of getting starched. With Alexander Volkanovski, it’s an entirely different approach.
“I was most scared of Jose Aldo because I was really scared of getting knocked out by Jose Aldo. So in that sense, Jose Aldo is the top rank. Volkanovski, on the other hand, is a very smart fighter.
I don’t really see myself getting knocked out by Volkanovski. I think in terms of fight IQ and how intelligent he fights, Volkanovski is the best fighter that I’ve ever experienced.
I’ve been fighting with fighters that were exceptionally strong on one sort of way like grappling or striking. But Volkanovski is well balanced out compared to these fighters that I met in the past but I think I can finish Volkanovski in all these areas. I’m better than Volkanovski in all the areas of MMA.”
Do you think the Zombie can seal a win this weekend? Should he be more afraid of Alexander “The Great”? Let us know in the comments.
