Almost back to 100 percent, Chan Sung Jung is already eying his potential next challenge.
“The Korean Zombie” has suffered defeats, but perhaps none more difficult to process than his Oct. 17 UFC Fight Night unanimous decision loss to Brian Ortega.
“It was honestly the most mentally challenging fight of my career,” Jung told MMA Junkie on Tuesday, via translator. “Physically, it was also very challenging, and my ego was struck down too. Luckily, I didn’t have any injuries. My two-week quarantine once I returned home to Korea made me very focused on the future.”
Even in defeat, Jung (16-6 MMA, 6-3 UFC) doesn’t knock the gameplan he constructed with coach Eddie Cha prior to the fight. Instead, Jung tacks the loss up to Ortega’s arsenal – especially one highlight-reel in particular.
“The fight plan was perfect,” Jung said. “(Ortega) used spinning elbows a lot in other fights. … We prepared accordingly, but he aimed for it and did his job. Unfortunately, it was a shot that I couldn’t fully recover from, and I couldn’t perform to the best of my abilities.”
Since returning home to South Korea, Jung has focused on recovering from a collateral ligament tear that occurred during preparation for the Ortega fight. He had a procedure done, in which pins from an old ACL surgery were removed.
It may sound gruesome to some, but Jung called the procedure “simple” and he aims for a March or April return. When his name is called, Jung has his fingers crossed. There’s one matchup that stands out above the rest.
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