The stakes have been raised for Brian Ortega and Chan Sung Jung’s upcoming fight in Abu Dhabi this weekend.
UFC President Dana White told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto that the winner will get a chance to steal UFC featherweight champion Alex Volkanovski’s crown next.
“It’s absolutely a No. 1 contender fight,” White said. “First of all, this fight should have happened a long time ago.
“We’re finally here. All the crazy stuff that’s happened. Crazy stuff always happens in this sport. Zombie [Jung] vs. Ortega. Absolutely, the winner of this fight should be the next title shot.”
Ortega and “The Korean Zombie” already have plenty of bad blood going into this fight.
The pair were all set to fight last December before “T-City” was forced to pull out of the fight with a knee injury.
Jung and his friend, Korean-American musician Jay Park, appeared on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show and questioned the reasons behind the Ortega’s withdrawal from the fight.
The Californian took issue with what was said in that interview and had a physical altercation with Park – who translated for Jung in that aforementioned interview – at UFC 248 in March, shortly before the world was locked down to try and halt the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Ortega was promptly ejected from the arena. Jung went on to call Ortega a “coward,” and Ortega said sorry to both Jung and Park – though the pair resumed their war of words quickly after.
