By the time Chan Sung Jung takes the stroll to the octagon at UFC 273, it will be 3,171 days since his ill-fated last title shot.
Eight-and-a-half years of toil in one of the most talent-stacked divisions in the competition has finally earned him a date with formidable Australian champion Alexander Volkanovski.
Few give ‘Korean Zombie’ a chance. He replaced the injured Max Holloway and most, including the bookies, expect the Aussie former rugby league player to put his challenger away.
Alexander Volkanovski is taking on Chan Sung Jung in the main event of UFC 273
The South Korean has built himself back up from losing against Jose Aldo (left) in 2013
The man from Pohang lost to Jose Aldo back in 2013 during an era when everyone fell to the Brazilian.
But at 34, there are more miles on the clock now, a wealth of experience gained and there’s no way Volkanovski should overlook his opponent.
Jung’s head coach Eddie Cha recently explained that this title shot is a dream for the challenger, who he says has the experience behind him to win.
‘He said nine years ago, nobody could beat Jose Aldo. Nobody even thought about beating him, nobody entertained that [idea],’ Cha told the MMA Hour.
‘And he’s so happy he was fortunate enough to fight him, because he has the experience now to actually step up and win a title shot.
‘He’s always believed that someday he’d get another title shot. It’s always been his dream to get another title shot and become a champion. And so he just stayed persistent.
Volkanovski survived this submission attempt to defend his belt against Brian Ortega
Volkanovski vs Chan Sung Jung is the headliner for the next big pay-per-view card
Jung defeated Renato Moicano in 2019, stopping the Brazilian in their featherweight bout
‘He wasn’t sure if he was ever going to get this opportunity again, but he worked his butt off, and the persistence and the hard work — and here we are today, April 9th.’
Jung has almost guaranteed fireworks in his fights. He was a risk taker and a brawler but there has been an evolution in his game at Fight Ready gym in Arizona.
Cha went on: ‘If he thinks of it as just like a fight, like a brawl, and just scrapping in there, then he can actually train in Korea.
‘But now he looks at this as a sport, where he’s actually competing, looking to win rounds.
‘We always talk about him as, we’re trying to win seconds, sequences. We’re trying to win minutes — minutes will win rounds, rounds wins fights. So his perspective on competing, fighting, is totally, totally different [now at Fight Ready].’
Volkanovski has shared plenty of octagon time with the very best in the division and will of course be fully confident that Jung is not up to their level.
But he should still consider this a banana skin fight. Jung’s ride has been varied since that loss to Aldo.
Jung has been on a rollercoaster of emotions since his previous title shot
The South Korean bounced back from losing against Aldo by beating Denis Bermudez
After bouncing back against Denis Bermudez, he was then on the receiving end of one of the UFC’s most iconic finishes.
With a second on the clock, Jair Rodriguez landed an elbow from behind himself to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
The judges had Zombie winning by split decision at least. That one stung.
But back on the horse he hopped. Next up it was Renato Moicano and the Brazilian was floored by a huge right hand.
He tried to cling on but heavy ground and pound put a stop to it.
Jung backed that up with a major scalp. He looked inspired in front of his fans in South Korea in defeating future Hall of Famer Frankie Edgar. Sajik Arena was packed to the rafters and witnessed their man putting ‘The Truth’ down twice with lethal onslaughts before Marc Goddard intervened.
Korean Zombie was brutally knocked out by Yair Rodriguez in the last second of their fight
He bounced back with an impressive win over Frankie Edgar on home turf
But after the highest of highs came ‘rock bottom’, as he put it. Brian Ortega dismantled him over five rounds to win a unanimous decision an send the South Korean into a pit of despair.
He became depressed, put on weight and even asked for a psychologist on the flight back to Seoul from Fight Island.
There was some serious physical damage to go with the mental strife and he could not remember anything from the second, third and fourth rounds.
It took eight months of deep reflection before he was ready to go again and Jung showed the resilience that has seen him compete with the elite in the UFC for more than a decade.
After a unanimous decision win over the dangerous Dan Ige, showing his best on the feet and the mat, he said: ‘I wanted to show all my skills and the capabilities of me becoming a champion,
Jung hit rock bottom after losing against Brian Ortega but has since rebounded
Dan Ige (left) was Jung’s latest victim and now he has a title shot on April 9
‘I wanted to show everything and bring everything in this fight.
‘In the fifth round I wanted to do a submission and do some kind of finish before going all the way to the fifth round, but that’s OK. I do feel a little bit upset about that but I did want to show everything, the qualities of a champion.’
April 9 will be the acid test of those championship qualities and it would be an almighty shock if he manages to dethrone Volkanovski.
But Zombies are notoriously difficult to kill and the path trudged by Jung since losing to Aldo all those years ago has made him a far more dangerous prospect.