The Korean Zombie Makes His Return to the UFC Ring

The UFC heads to Houston, Texas February 4th for UFC Fight Night: Bermudez vs Korean Zombie. The event marks the comeback of Chan Sung Jung, who is back from military service in South Korea. It also features the Fight Night debut of Alexa Grasso, a talented and extremely marketable young fighter out of Mexico. She’ll be up against former kickboxer Felice Herrig.

As far as Fight Night cards go, this one doesn’t draw too much excitement. But it has some interesting match-ups and could be the event to launch the career of the next UFC star.

Let’s take a closer look.

Dennis Bermudez (-170) vs. Chan Sung Jung (+130)

Chan Sung Jung (15-6) was the eighth-ranked featherweight in the UFC when he took a leave to fulfill his two-year mandatory military service in South Korea. He left after his failed title shot against Jose Aldo in 2013.

Now, over two years later, the 29 year-old returns to fight Dennis Bermudez (16-5), the ninth-ranked featherweight in the UFC. After a disappointing 2015, losing his only fight to Jeremy Stephens, Bermudez came back with a bang, winning his two fights in 2016. He took both Rony Jason and Tatsuya Kawajiri to decision and won.

In his prime, I would definitely pick the Korean Zombie to take this fight. But Jung has been out for so long and has only been back training since October. It will take time to shake off the ring rust, and he may be biting off more than he can chew with Bermudez.

Pick: Dennis Bermudez (-170)

Alexa Grasso (-293) vs. Felice Herrig (+237)

At 23 years old, Alexa Grasso (9-0) is only just starting her MMA career. She’s up against kickboxer and Muay Thai specialist Felice Herrig (11-6). It’s a good match-up for Grasso, who relies predominantly on her Jiu-Jitsu.

After the departure of Ronda Rousey, the UFC is looking for a new female fighter to take her place. Grasso ticks all the boxes. It seems like she’s being groomed for success by the orangization, and by matching her up with an aging striker with a relatively weak ground game, she’s got a pretty good chance at wining.

She’ll have to be careful against Herrig, though. She’s a heavy hitter and, for a striker, has a high amount of submission wins.

Pick: Alexa Grasso (-293)

Photo credit: “ufc” by Bennyupp, CC BY-SA 2.0 [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0], via Flickr.