Korean Zombie is one of the only men in the UFC that has a nickname instead of his name on the chirons. Zombie, born Chan Sung Jung is 35. Thanks to the required military service in South Korea, his career was derailed and he was absent from the public from 2013 until 2017. At which point he launched a come back.
Still Jung’s career isn’t flawless – he lost to Ortega, Yair Rodriguez and Aldo in recent past but he holds a notable win over Dustin Poirier before that.
At the UFC 273 press conference , Zombie was asked about the prospect of becoming a first Asian male champion in the Promotion. To make the question even more poignant it was asked by Li Jingliang – a UFC Welterweight contender.
You have a lot of fans in china and if you win this fight you’ll be the first ever Korean and a male Asian champion so what do you think your winning will mean?
“A lot of people think that Asian men not being able to become champion means Asian men are weak, but that is not the case. It’s because Asian men are not given as much opportunity as perhaps other races and if I become champion then more Asian fighters more Asian MMA fighters will be given the opportunity to fight in the UFC and potentially become champion.”
A number of Asian men is in the promotion currently. Most notably there are Seung Woo Choi, Doo Ho Choi, Da Un Jung, Song Yadong and Li Jingliang in addition to Zombie. The UFC 273 is finally around the corner with two titles on the line and a highly-anticipated welterweight showdown between Gilbert Burns and Khamzat Chimaev.