Alexander Volkanovski explains why he chose Korean Zombie for next opponent: “He’s the only one that made sense”
The UFC featherweight title picture took a bit of a shakeup recently when top contender Max Holloway needed to withdraw from his fight against champion Alexander Volkanovski, and a replacement was needed. With plenty of top contenders in the division offering to step in and replace Holloway, the decision would ultimately be partially up to the champion Volkanovski and in the end, it was decided that The Korean Zombie, Chan Sung Jung, would be the next title challenger.
Due to the changing circumstances surrounding the fight, the UFC decided to move it from the UFC 272 PPV in March to the UFC 273 PPV in April, which does not have a location set yet. While there was no clear-cut second choice to take Holloway’s spot in the title fight, Alexander Volkanovski went into detail this week about how the decision came about to decide on The Korean Zombie as the new opponent.
Making an appearance this week on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Volkanovsksi explained how the process went for deciding on The Korean Zombie and how it was a team decision, not just his.
"[The Korean Zombie] is coming off a good win over Dan Ige. He’s the only one that made sense and that’s why we wanted him."@alexvolkanovski joins @arielhelwani to explain why he chose The Korean Zombie as his next opponent
▶️ https://t.co/3l4trb7CWf pic.twitter.com/tvvA79SxzQ
— MMA Fighting (@MMAFighting) January 17, 2022
“The team obviously, we had a conversation pretty much as soon as we found out the news. We were like ‘We don’t want to change the date, we don’t want until he [Holloway] recovers or anything like that, so we were like what do we do?’ so the boys talked and then they checked with me and he’s the only one that made sense. They know what I’m like, I’m not going to fight guys that don’t deserve it, I don’t like that, that’s not what I’m about. I’m about the guys that make sense.”
As far as The Korean Zombie himself, Alexander Volkanovski noted that there’s a legacy factor in this and that his goal is to face all the legends in the division.
“He’s a legend of the sport, you talk about legacy he’s one of the biggest names in the division. I want to take out all the guys with the guys that I face, all of them, the legends of the featherweight division and he’s one of them. He’s coming off a win, a good win off Dan Ige and he’s the only one that made sense and that’s why we wanted him.”
No matter what happens at UFC 273 between Alexander Volkanovski and The Korean Zombie, it is still likely that Max Holloway will be next in line to face whoever wins the scheduled featherweight title fight. Despite the fact that the trilogy between Holloway and Volkanovski is highly-anticipated among fans, the champion deserves credit for getting a new opponent and testing himself, rather than just sitting back and waiting for Holloway to get healthy.
