Former UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway was “honored” to be Chan Sung Jung’s final fight under the UFC banner. Sung Jung, nicknamed the “Korean Zombie” for his outstanding durability, retired at UFC Singapore last week, losing to Holloway via third-round knockout.
At the post-fight press conference, Holloway discussed how much of a “zombie” th zombie truly is, and expressed nothing but admiration for his opponent.
Max Holloway Opens Up About UFC “Legend” The Korean Zombie
Of particular note for Holloway was the moment he dropped Zombie in the second round, following up with a vicious D’Arce choke. Holloway was incredulous that Sung Jung managed to survive both the knockdown and the deep, brutal submission attempt.
“The zombie’s a zombie. I swear I saw him stop breathing. I was telling Marc [Goddard], ‘Bro, he’s out!’ He started wiggling his fingers. I was like, ‘What is he made out of?’ He’s weird. Dude is built different. He’s an actual zombie.”
With the choke locked in, Holloway was convinced that he’d put his opponent to sleep, but referee Marc Goddard refused to stop the fight.
“He was not breathing, breathing, gargling, like every single sound that someone’s getting choked, you can hear it and he was doing it. I was like, ‘Bro, he’s out,’ and Marc was like, ‘No, he’s not.’ Zombie’s neck is made out of rubber, I think. I don’t know.”
Unable to finish the submission, Holloway backed out. “The only thing going through my mind was, ‘Your back better not get tired because you’ve got to fight this man for three more rounds.’
So when we got up, I was like, oh my gosh. I had to shake my off my arms, shake my back out — OK, we’re good to go.”
Holloway summed up his experience with one word. “Legend. The dude’s a zombie. I hit him in the second, I thought I had him out. He kept coming back! I was like, oh my gosh, what’s going on?
The next thing I know, we were in the third round and then I hit him in the third round and I got [the knockout]. He’s just a legend.
It was an honor to be his last fight. It didn’t go the way that he wanted or his fans wanted, but that’s what he wanted to do.
He wanted to fight me. He wanted to do that and that’s how you know this man’s a legend. He did that. He wanted the fight. He wanted this in Asia. I got nothing but love for ‘The Korean Zombie.’”
