UFC Busan: Frankie Edgar vs Chan Sung Jung

UFC Busan: Frankie Edgar vs Chan Sung Jung

By Thomas Cathey

On Saturday, Dec. 21, former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar will meet the “Korean Zombie”, Chan Sung Jung at UFC Busan.

Originally, Jung was supposed to fight former UFC title challenger Brian Ortega to headline Saturday’s card. However, Ortega had to pull out of the bout a couple weeks ago due to a torn ACL, prompting Edgar to step in as a replacement.

With Edgar signing on to fight Jung this weekend, the former champion is now double-booked. Before agreeing to replace Ortega, Edgar already had a Jan. 25 date scheduled with Cory Sandhagen for his bantamweight debut. It is unclear whether or not Saturday night’s results will affect Edgar’s debut at 135 pounds next month.

Edgar (22-7-1), ranked no. 4 at featherweight, is coming off of a decision loss to then featherweight champion Max Holloway in July. At 38-years-old and seemingly in the twilight of his career after losing the title opportunity to Holloway, it was then that Edgar decided to move down in weight in hopes to earn yet another UFC title. But Edgar’s bantamweight journey will have to wait until after Saturday night.

The former champion is 3-2 in his last five fights.

Jung (15-5), has been trying to work his way back up the featherweight rankings after taking nearly four years off for military service for his native country of South Korea. He returned to the octagon in February of 2017, stopping Dennis Bermudez in the first round. Then, in November of 2018, Jung was knocked out by a memorable elbow from Yair Rodriguez.

Now ranked no. 6 at 145 pounds, Jung is coming off a quick first round finish of Renato Moicano in his most recent bout in June. A win over Edgar who just challenged for the title on Saturday could earn Jung his second UFC world title shot, the first resulting in a TKO loss to featherweight legend Jose Aldo in 2013.

While Edgar is known for being a quick, speedy fighter, Jung is mostly known for his toughness and devastating knockout power. This classic style contrast almost certainly makes for an interesting matchup at 145 pounds, which recently crowned its new champion in Alexander Volkanovski last weekend.

Jung enters the fight the slight betting favourite.