Brian Ortega is baffled at how Chan Sung Jung is suddenly ready to compete.
The pair were initially scheduled to headline UFC on ESPN+ 23 this past December in South Korea, but Ortega was forced out due to a knee injury. Instead, Jung faced former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar and finished the former lightweight champion in the first round.
Since then, both Ortega and “The Korean Zombie” have been angling for a rebooking, and there was a confrontation between Ortega (14-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) and Jung’s friend and manager, Korean rapper Jay Park, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas while both were in attendance for UFC 248 in March.
Ortega was unhappy with some of the things Park had said when translating Jung’s words, which included accusations of Ortega ducking him. So, when Ortega saw Park he confronted him and slapped him in the face and ended up being escorted out of the arena.
In a recent Instagram post, Ortega urged Jung, who’s currently unable to travel to the U.S., to hurry up and sign a contract to fight. But following the UFC 251 co-main event, “The Korean Zombie” has now diverted his attention to featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski.
Jung (16-5 MMA, 6-2 UFC) called out Volkanovski and blasted him for his razor-thin decision win over Max Holloway. He also branded the Australian a “shameful” champion.
But Ortega is wondering how, just a few weeks ago, Jung claimed that he couldn’t leave the country, but now is seemingly prepared to fight Volkanovski.
“How you gonna say I can’t fight cause I can’t leave my country then say you ready to fight all the sudden . I just talked to some of my people they said you can fly to United States and fly to Fight Island . ( by the way they live in Korea too ) . So straight up you down to fight @danawhite said winner of us gets the title shot. If you ain’t down I ain’t trippen @danawhite give me another guy you want to see me fight to earn the title I don’t want free rides I earn my (expletive).”
Ortega hasn’t competed since December 2018, when he suffered his first career loss to then-featherweight champion Holloway at UFC 231.
Jung has won three of his last four and is coming off back-to-back first-round finishes of Renato Moicano and Edgar.
