UFC Fight Night 104: Bermudez vs. Korean Zombie - A look into the Main Event and Prediction.

Dennis “The Menace” Bermudez vs “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung:

This Saturday’s main event takes place in the UFC's Featherweight division and sees the return of fan favourite, Chan Sung Jung against the always entertaining Dennis Bermudez, in what should be an action-packed contest. 

“The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung will be looking to get back into the featherweight rankings after taking three years off to complete mandatory military service in his home country of South Korea. His nickname “The Korean Zombie” best describes his dogged fighting style which consists of constant high pressure and the sheer refusal to give up. His opponent, Dennis Bermudez, is currently on a two fight winning streak in the talent stacked featherweight division and will be looking to further climb the rankings himself. Both fighters are not afraid to take one to give one so this has all the ingredients to be Fight of the Night.

Chan Sung Jung has not fought since losing to Jose Aldo in August of 2013 where he challenged for the featherweight title at UFC 163. During this fight, Jung lived up to his nickname when he dislocated his shoulder in the fourth round and whilst trying to pop it back in, was pounced on by Aldo who attacked the injury to a point where the referee had to stop the fight. This was seen by many as a valiant effort by the South Korean who took the fight on relatively short notice after Anthony Pettis had to pull out due to injury. Before that, Jung had notched up three straight victories in very impressive fashion – finishing Dustin Poirier with his own patented move, the D’Arce Choke (in 2012’s Fight of the Year), then knocking out former Featherweight title challenger Mark Hominick in just seven seconds and submitting Leonard Garcia with the rarely seen Twister (2011’s Submission of the Year). It will be interesting to see if Jung can return to his old ways or if “cage rust” will play a factor in this fight given how long he has been away from the octagon.

Dennis Bermudez is currently ranked number nine in the UFC’s Featherweight division and will be looking to make a statement on Saturday night to improve on this. In his last outing, he fought to a unanimous decision victory over Rony Jason (who had just come back from a one year suspension after testing positive for a banned diuretic). In his UFC career, “The Menace”, much like "The Korean Zombie", has been involved in some very entertaining fights (most notably against Jeremy Stephens at UFC 189 where he lost via TKO in the third and final round of a back and forth thriller) and has been awarded five “… of the night” bonuses as a result. However, he has taken some damage inside the octagon and this could prove costly against a fighter who refuses to quit and swings for the fences like Chan Sung Jung.

With that said, I personally think with all of the time off this is a difficult return fight for “The Korean Zombie”, who has only been finished twice in 18 professional MMA contests. In the time Jung has been away, Bermudez has fought a total of seven times, racking up five wins and losing just twice. I think it would be unwise for Bermudez to stand and trade with “The Korean Zombie” given how durable, resilient and difficult to finish the South Korean has been in the past. Therefore, I expect Bermudez to threaten with constant take down attempts and if they’re successful, some ground and pound (whilst avoiding Jung’s submission attacks) to ware on his opponent and grind out a hard fought victory.

My Pick – Dennis Bermudez by Unanimous Decision.

daniel_clemenson@outlook.com