Da Un Jung will take on William Knight this weekend at UFC on ABC 2. The 27-year-old is a burgeoning talent at light heavyweight and is unbeaten in 13 fights.
His last outing came at UFC 254 against Sam Alvey. It was an entertaining affair in which the Korean produced a big third round, landing some fierce elbows to claw his way back on the judges’ score cards and earn a draw.
After signing with the UFC in 2019, Jung produced two explosive finishes, first submitting Khadis Ibragimov before going on to knock out Mike Rodriguez less than three months later.
The draw with Alvey was a slight setback but Jung learned some lessons that night,
“The match didn’t work out well as I was aiming for the finish in the last game with Alvey. I learned a lot and made up for it. I am ready to go. I want to fight quickly.”
Falling through
Jung has experienced plenty of uncertainty since the onset of the pandemic. He saw a scheduled bout with Ed Herman fall through twice last year, while Knight was a late replacement for his previous opponent, Shamil Gamzatov.
Knight, who’s currently riding a three-fight winning streak, is certainly a different proposition to his Russian predecessor. The 33-year-old striker comes into the fight on the back of a unanimous decision win against Aleksa Camur on his UFC debut.
“I think variables are the same for the other side,” said Jung. “I’m just glad that the match was not cancelled.”
Nothing changes
In that respect Jung believes that nothing has changed,
“I think it will be similar because both my opponent and I have been preparing for the match. Nothing has changed significantly, except for a little attention to the clinch situation, etc. I’m just trying to stay in top shape.”
Having seen so many fights cancelled or postponed Jung was always going to accept any fight offered,
“It’s a different type of opponent but I wanted to play as often as possible, so I agreed unconditionally. I focused on analyzing the new opponent for a short period of time.”
No burden
Given his start to life in the UFC, Jung has the potential to be a fan favourite. Asked if he feels any pressure trying to live up to popular countrymen like Korean Zombie or Dong-Hyun Kim he said,
“There is no burden. There is still a lot to fill because there is not enough. I am trying hard to fill in various areas,”
Jung is yet to break the top 15 rankings, but with momentum behind him, as well as having put pen to paper on a new deal, the 6’4″ slugger believes he’s ready to deliver a peak performance,
“I am happy to sign a renewal on good terms. I can fight harder for the UFC.”
