Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
It’s the rare sleuth breakdown, as Korean Zombie was kind enough this week to show fans all the different ways that fighters cheat at the weigh-ins.
A long-time action-fight staple in the UFC and the WEC before it, former title challenger and top ranked UFC featherweight Chan Sung Jung,put together a pretty special episode of his video blog this week, cataloging all the different ways his fellow fighters cheat during pre-fight weigh-ins.
The Korean Zombie is 3-1 in his last 4 bouts, and coming off a highly impressive TKO victory over Frankie Edgar in December. And even though he’s not in the cage right now – as he recovers from eye surgery (and waits out the uncertainty of the coronavirus pandemic) – he’s still got a battle to fight. TKZ is looking to put notch a win against scale cheaters.
The techniques themselves are mostly just rudimentary physics, but it’s still interesting to see all the different ways fighters try to will that extra pound out of existence. Plus it helps that the Korean Zombie makes for a great teacher. Check out the video below!
“This is one of the most interesting methods I have seen,” Jung says, explaining the ‘Finger Method’ (for lack of a better term). “I’m not even applying pressure, but just slightly using my finger to lift Seung Min up. I’m literally doing nothing, just slightly touching him.”
While we haven’t seen this particular method, we did see the Shoulder Method involving Kelvin Gastelum during the UFC 244 weigh-in. Jung continues:
“Let’s say the required weight was 143 (pounds), and with the underwear off, the fighter weighed in at 142, I would go ahead and suspect that something is off if you find the fighter’s second standing behind them. Dropping to 142 from 143 all because a fighter removed a piece of clothing is very rare.”
Perhaps the most high profile case was Daniel Cormier, before his fight with Anthony Johnson. Towelgate, as it came to be known, earned Cormier quite a lot of press; both from fighters mocking him, to fighters doing similar gumshoe work.
Cormier hasn’t been the only fighter to use the towel technique, however. As for why the Zombie is talking about this now, though? Well, it’s just the honorable thing to do.
“I’ve witnessed this a lot,” Jung says. “I am just sharing this in hopes of preventing it from ever happening again. During a weigh-in, if you spot their second standing behind them, they both need to be seriously penalized…I’m sharing these because I want the MMA industry to be a better place. Stopping the fighters from tricking the system might be a place to begin.”
Korean Zombie recently underwent eye surgery, he’s also found himself in a war of words with fellow featherweight Brian Ortega. To the extent that Ortega even took a swing at K-Pop star Jay Park, during a recent UFC event. Since Park has been doing some translating for Chan Sung Jung, converting the fighter’s trash talk into English. When he’s healed up, don’t be surprised to see the UFC put the two men back in the Octagon together, to make up for their cancelled December bout.