Max Holloway is coming off a big win over Arnold Allen at UFC on ESPN 44 last weekend. With three losses against reigning featherweight champion Alex Volkanovski it is difficult to envisage the Hawaiian getting another title shot.
But there are plenty of fights out there for the 31 year old and he knows exactly who he wants to face next. At the post fight press conference Holloway called out Chan Sun Jung,
“Korean Zombie, that’s the only guy of my time, the older guys, that I didn’t get to fight. I would love that fight.”
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Same era
The Korean Zombie made his UFC debut in 2011 with Holloway signing for the promotion the following year. They have both been part of the promotion’s featherweight division for over a decade and the Hawaiian can’t understand why the fight hasn’t happened,
“I’m kind of tripping on how we didn’t fight yet. How did we not fight? If that’s one of the guys, that’s one of the guys. I would love to share the octagon with him. He’s one of the OGs that I didn’t get to fight, and we came up in the same era, and we didn’t fight each other.”
The Korean Zombie has been scheduled to headline UFC Seoul earlier this year. But he suffered a shoulder injury and the entire event was ultimately switched to Las Vegas.
It demonstrates just how big a star he is, that the UFC didn’t believe it could carry off an event in Korea without him. There is a lot of speculation that Jung’s next match will be his retirement fight.
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Sentimental reasons
For sentimental reasons it would make sense to have him headline an event in Seoul but for some reason Holloway thinks the fight should happen in Australia
“Australia is supposed to be happening sometime, we don’t know when, and if Korean Zombie wants it he can get it. I would love to fight him. That’s one of the guys I grew up watching.”
Holloway is alluding to the five year age difference between the two featherweights. And while he went the distance with Volkanovski the Korean Zombie suffered a one sided beating at the hands of the champion which ended early in the fourth but probably could have been stopped sooner.
Jung is currently #6 while Holloway was #2 before last weekend’s win. It would be a tough fight for The Korean Zombie, who does not appear to be back in training yet, but the Hawaiian clearly wants it to happen.
