“The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung was fighting to hold onto his spot as a serious featherweight contender on Saturday night against Dan Ige, and we’re happy to report he maintained his position by decisioning Ige 48–47, 49–46, and 49–46 on the judges’ scorecards (watch the highlights here).
It was a mature performance from Jung, who has a reputation for being drawn into firefights where his durability tested. This time Jung mixed things up, jumping from perfectly timed counters to takedowns and lengthy periods of back control on the ground. Was it a classic Zombie performance? There have been more exciting bouts in his back catalog. But for someone who needed the win to stay relevant at 145, it was solid.
And even more impressive when you learn that Jung’s shoulder was popping out during the fight!
“He did pop his shoulder in and out, the some shoulder that he messed up in the Aldo fight. He’ll never say that kind of stuff,” his head coach Eddie Cha revealed. “In the second round when he went for the takedown and took his back, that’s where it popped in and out a bit.”
The Aldo fight was all the way back in August of 2013 so that’s an old ass injury to re-aggravate in an important fight. A scary one too, considering the 2013 shoulder injury derailed Jung’s chances of winning his first title against Aldo. Fortunately this time, “The Korean Zombie” was able to hide the injury and compete through for the win.