Chan Sung Jung Reveals He Gained 20kg After ‘Rock Bottom’ Defeat To Brian Ortega
One-time UFC featherweight title challenger, ‘The Korean Zombie’ Chan Sung Jung has revealed that his one-sided October defeat to upcoming title chaser, Brian ‘T-City’ Ortega on ‘Fight Island’ — brought with it a mentally taxing aftermath, in which he began excess eating, eventually gaining twenty kilograms in body weight.
Headlining UFC Fight Island 6 agaisnt the Californian, Jung and Ortega met in a featherweight title-eliminator, with the victor priming themselves for a title showdown with incumbent gold holder, Alexander ‘The Great’ Volkanovski in 2021.
Dropping the South Korean favourite with strikes twice, Ortega, who was making his first Octagon appearance since December of 2018 where he dropped a one-sided beating of his own to former champion, Max ‘Blessed’ Holloway — culminating in a fourth-round doctor’s stoppage, stamped his second title tilt with aplomb.
Displaying an ever-evolved striking game, Ortega landed a particularly eye-catching spinning-elbow knockdown on Jung — with the latter detailing in a post-fight statement how he couldn’t remember anything beyond the opening round.
Slumping to a dominant decision defeat, subsequently snapping a two-fight winning streak for Jung, the 33-year-old had previously stopped former lightweight champion, Frankie ‘The Answer’ Edgar, and Brazilian contender, Renato Moicano — both via opening frame strikes.
Appearing on a talk show aired on the SBS Plus network earlier this week, Jung explained to television host, Kang Ho-dong how he felt his career was over off the back of his judging loss to Ortega, and how he began eating uncontrollably, resulting in him gaining twenty kilograms. “The thought that my career had crashed brought me down to rock bottom,” Jung said.
Further detailing his post-fight woes, Jung revealed he had travelled back to his native South Korea following the loss, where he spoke with a psychiatrist — and in the days before his high-stakes clash with Ortega, he failed to lodge more than two hours of sleep.
Jung, who has yet to feature in the Octagon since his October loss to Ortega, is currently planning to return to active-competition in March of April coming, with sights fixed on a would-be anticipated matchup against streaking featherweight contender, Zabit Magomedsharipov.
For Ortega, the San Pedro native earned his second promotional title tilt off the back of his win over Jung, and matches up with the above-mentioned, Volkanovski at UFC 260 on March 27th. — beneath a heavyweight title rematch of Stipe Miocic and Francis Ngannou.
