Fight fans will unfortunately have to wait a little longer to see The Korean Zombie back in action. According to MMA-in-Asia.com, who confirmed the news with the fighter’s manager, Chan Sung Jung re-injured his shoulder and has been forced to pull out of his scheduled fight against Akira Corassani, which was set to take place October 4 at Ericsson Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden. Jung has not fought since injuring his shoulder in his title fight against UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo back at UFC 163. He had surgery on his shoulder and was expected to make his comeback this fall after over a year out of the cage, but according to the article at MMA-in-Asia, Jung re-injured the same shoulder during his training camp for Corassani. According to the article, Jung has no structural damage and is to be re-evaluated by a doctor in a month. Jung is one of the most exciting fighters in the sport pound-for-pound bar none, but it seems like injuries have really taken their toll on him and at this point it’s unclear if he’ll ever be able to fight again at the same caliber he did before all of his injuries. At one point, Jung was on a three-fight win streak in the UFC featherweight division with victories over Dustin Poirier, Mark Hominick and Leonard Garcia, capturing the trifecta of Fight of the Night, Knockout of the Night and Submission of the Night in the process, but since the win over Poirier in May 2012 Jung has fought only one time, losing to Aldo via fourth-round TKO at UFC 163, and at this point it doesn’t look like he’ll step into the cage again until 2015. It’s very disappointing news for fans of The Korean Zombie everywhere, but hopefully the 27-year-old South Korean has only hit some sort of low point in his career and he can bounce back from it sooner rather than later. As for who will face Corassani now in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 53, it’s really hard to say at this point, but some options include Jeremy Stephens, Clay Guida, and Diego Brandao, three “name” fighters looking to bounce back from losses and who are available to fight. Although Corassani is not a great fighter, he is quite exciting and the UFC keeps giving him high-profile matchups, i.e. Jung, Poirier. But we’ll see what UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby has up his sleeve for his replacement opponent for UFC Fight Night 53 — just hopefully whoever he picks is someone who will put on as fun of a show as the Zombie would have.
MMA Odds and Ends for Tuesday: Korean Zombie Injured Yet Again
