Chan Sung Jung may have cemented himself as the UFC’s No. 1 featherweight contender.
In front of a home crowd at UFC on ESPN+ 23 in Busan, South Korea, “The Korean Zombie” battered former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar, taking him out at the 3:18 mark of the opening round of their headlining bout..
Coming out to their signature walkout songs, Jung (16-5 MMA, 6-2 UFC) was showered with cheers as he walked out to The Cranberries’ hit song “Zombie,” and Edgar (23-8-1 MMA, 17-8-1 UFC) sprinted to the octagon shortly after, as the two were ready to do battle.
Both looking to establish a fast pace early, Edgar came out throwing a hard leg kick, while Jung was happy to stick out his left jab, waiting to land the big counter shot. Edgar then attempted to mix it up by going for a takedown but was easily stuffed by Jung.
Going back to the leg kick, Edgar was countered by a Jung left, which wobbled him and was the beginning of the end for the ever-so-tough Edgar, who tried to hang in there but was met with an outpouring of strikes by Jung.
With pinpoint accuracy and precision, Jung never gave Edgar a chance to recover, throwing everything but the kitchen sink, as Edgar tried to hang on for dear life. A bloodied Edgar managed to somehow make it back on his feet but was met with another counter and combination that sat him back down, followed by a barrage of punches.
At that point, referee Marc Goddard decided that he had seen enough.
It was another first-round finish for Jung, who proceeded to call out newly crowned UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski for a title shot.
Up-to-the-minute UFC on ESPN+ 23 results include:
Chan Sung Jung def. Frankie Edgar via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 3:18
Volkan Oezdemir def. Aleksandar Rakic via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
Charles Jourdain def. Dooho Choi via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 4:32
Da Un Jung def. Mike Rodriguez via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 1:04
Jun Yong Park def. Marc-Andre Barriault via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Kyung Ho Kang def. Liu Pingyuan via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 30-27)
Ciryl Gane def. Tanner Boser via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-26)
Seungwoo Choi def. Suman Mokhtarian via unanimous decision (29-26, 29-26, 29-25)
Omar Morales def. Dong Hyun Ma via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 29-28)
Alexandre Pantoja def. Matt Schnell via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 4:17
Raoni Barcelos def. Said Nurmagomedov via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Amanda Lemos def. Miranda Granger via technical submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 3:43
Heili Alateng def. Ryan Benoit via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
