Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC
Frankie Edgar is taking a tough short-notice fight in South Korea.
Following the unfortunate news of Brian Ortega’s torn ACL just before his much-anticipated bout with Chan Sung Jung at UFC Busan, the UFC had to scramble to find the Korean Zombie a new opponent. And there came up with a pretty good one.
Following an initial report by ESPN, MMA Junkie has confirmed that former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar will step in for Ortega and meet Jung in the headliner of the December 21st card. The UFC has not made the fight official as of yet.
Edgar had been scheduled to make his bantamweight debut against Cody Stamann next month, but that doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen now.
The 38-year-old Edgar (23-7-1, 17-7-1 UFC) is coming off a featherweight title fight with Max Holloway where he dropped a split decision. Zombie (15-5, 5-2 UFC) is fresh off a big TKO win over Renato Moicano in June.
UFC Busan will air on ESPN+ on December 21st. Besides Edgar/Zombie, the card will feature a light heavyweight bout between Aleksandar Rakic and Volkan Oezdemir, and the return of the Korean Superboy Doo Ho Choi against Charles Jourdain.