When the UFC came calling eleven days ago asking if Chan Sung Jung (aka the “Korean Zombie”) would take a rematch with Leonard “Bad Boy” Garcia, there really could have only been one answer. Both men met last April at WEC 48 in what announcer Joe Rogan has labeled “Fight of the Decade” in an exciting back-and-forth match that saw Garcia win a controversial split decision.
Many fans hoped that their rematch would mirror that first fight, but both fighters have grown since then and each was looking for a victory rather than a chance to simply entertain the fans. The first and second rounds saw both men trade strikes, but not as wild as their first fight. Jung would score a takedown in the dying moments of the second and would slip in a Twister submission forcing Garcia to tap with one second on the clock. That was the first time anyone in the UFC has successfully forced an opponent to tap using a Twister, and probably one of the reasons Jung earned the “Submission of the Night” bonus from UFC President Dana White.
At the post fight press conference, Jung talked about practicing the submission because it “looked fun.”
“It’s something that I saw a long time ago on the internet on video,” Jung said via a translator during Saturday night’s post-fight press conference. “It’s one of Eddie Bravo’s techniques. It’s something I practiced because it just looks fun, and so I do it quite a bit in practice. I always told people I was going to try it some time in competition and I wanted to do it in the UFC and I was able to…”
“When I started going in for the technique I knew there was less than thirty seconds left. That’s actually one of the reasons why I went for that move. If it was more than thirty seconds I probably wouldn’t have tried the move, but since there wasn’t much time left I kind of went for it and thankfully it worked out.”
The win puts Jung into the win column under Zuffa having lost two straight in the WEC, losing to Garcia at WEC 48 and a knockout loss to George Roop at WEC 51.
HT: MMAFighting.com for the quote and to IronForgesIron.com for the photo