With Chan Sung Jung out of UFC 214, it’ll be Jason Knight fighting Ricardo Lamas this July.
The UFC has found Chan Sung Jung’s replacement to fight Ricardo Lamas.
As was first reported on Tuesday by the Los Angeles Times’ Lance Pugmire, rising featherweight prospect Jason Knight will be filling in for “The Korean Zombie” at UFC 214 in Anaheim, CA on July 29th. Jung had to withdraw due to (among other things) a ruptured ACL and MCL.
Knight (17-2) is on a four-fight winning streak and arguably should be ranked already, but he currently isn’t. After losing on short-notice to Tatsuya Kawajiri, the man who has been dubbed “Hick Diaz” has rattled off victories over Jim Alers, Dan Hooker, Alex Caceres, and most recently a very impressive third-round TKO over Chas Skelly at UFC 211.
Lamas (17-5) rebounded from a loss to current champion Max Holloway at UFC 199 by getting a guillotine choke finish over Charles Oliveira last November. The fight was supposed to be at featherweight, but Oliveira weighed in at a comical 155 lbs, so this ended up being a catchweight. “The Bully” is #3 in the UFC’s official featherweight rankings, so this is a monstrous opportunity for Knight to really come through as a potential title challenger.
UFC 214 is headlined by a light heavyweight title rematch between Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones, only this time Cormier is the reigning champion.