Brian Ortega apparently isn’t one to throw around hollow threats on social media and proved it Saturday night in Las Vegas.
Ortega was in attendance at T-Mobile Arena for UFC 248, as was fellow featherweight fighter Chan Sung Jung, who was accompanied by Korean rapper Jay Park in the fighter section of the floor seats. It was Park with whom Ortega had a problem.
According to an eyewitness who reached out to MMA Junkie, Ortega approached Park during Joanna Jedrzejczyk’s walkout and confronted him over trash talk last month, leading “T-City” to open-hand slap Park. The incident happened while Jung was in the bathroom, leading to Ortega being escorted out of the arena.
After the event, UFC president Dana White confirmed an altercation happened but didn’t know why.
“(Ortega) and the ‘Zombie’ got into a fight, which is completely unlike both of their personalities,” White said. “‘Zombie’ doesn’t even speak English, so I don’t know what the hell he could’ve said that would get Ortega to start going crazy. But, yeah, it was weird.”
The altercation stemmed from “The Korean Zombie’s” trash talk last month about Ortega. On an episode of “Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show,” Jung said Ortega “ducked” him; Park was his translator. The two 145 pounders were scheduled to fight in December at UFC on ESPN+ 23, but Ortega withdrew because of an injury.
In response to the ducking accusation, Ortega posted on Instagram that he’d settled things with Jung but not the case Park.
“Jay Park welcome to the fight game,” Ortega wrote. “Don’t be surprised if I slap the (expletive) out of you when I see you.”
Ortega followed through Saturday.
When asked if any legal action would be taken, White said no.
“Listen, we don’t want that,” White said. “We don’t want anyone getting arrested.”
White later indicated that he’s interested in booking Ortega (14-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) vs. Jung (16-5 MMA, 6-2 UFC).
https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2020/03/brian-ortega-korean-zombie-incident-jay-park-slapped-during-ufc-248
