In early February, South Korean featherweight Chan Sung Jung – more widely known by his nickname “The Korean Zombie” – made a successful return to action after more than three years on the shelf, delivering a thudding, first-round knockout of the game Dennis Bermudez.
With this win, the undead star burst back into the UFC featherweight rankings, where a plethora of exciting matchups await him. A quick bit of research, of course, reveals that many of the UFC’s premier featherweights are currently booked. Jose Aldo and Max Holloway will be fighting for gold at UFC 212 in June. Frankie Edgar will be taking on Yair Rodriguez at UFC 211 in May. Cub Swanson will be busy with Artem Lobov in Nashville on April 22. Jeremy Stephens will have his hands full with Renato Moicano a week before that. Luckily, there is one elite featherweight who is not currently booked, and that featherweight happens to be one that The Korean Zombie would love to fight: Ricardo Lamas.
The Zombie’s desire for this fight was revealed by his manager, to BJPenn.com’s own Chris Taylor.
Just spoke with Korean Zombie's manager who revealed to me that KZ is targeting former title challenger Ricardo Lamas for his next fight
— Chris Taylor (@CTaylor_96) March 14, 2017
Prior to his comeback win over Bermudez, Jung failed in a bid to capture featherweight gold from Jose Aldo, succumbing to fourth-round strikes. This failed title shot was preceded by a thrilling submission defeat of Dustin Poirier, a blitzkrieg knockout of Mark Hominick, and a rare Twister submission defeat of Leonard Garcia. His overall record stands at 14-4.
Lamas, meanwhile, sits at 17-5 in sum. When we last saw him in the cage, he scored a nice submission win over Charles Oliveira. This win was preceded by an action-packed decision loss to Max Holloway.
Lamas and the Korean Zombie were briefly scheduled to meet back in 2013, but this fight was scrapped when the Zombie was pencilled in for a shot at Aldo.
Who do you think wins a fight between the Korean Zombie and Ricardo Lamas? Sound off, PENN Nation!
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 3/14/2017.