This past weekend, the UFC made its way to Busan, South Korea. It was a card that flew highly under the radar because of its start times. Here on the east coast of the United States, the prelims started at 2:00 AM, while the main card started at 5:00 AM. In the main event, Chan Sung Jung aka the Korean Zombie defeated Frankie Edger via TKO in the first round. The card also saw a Fight of the Night between Charles Jourdain and The Korean Superboy, Doo Ho Choi. Both Zombie and Alexandre Pantoja ended up winning performance bonuses. Today we will take a look at where these fighters will turn next in their respective careers.
Chan Sung Jung (Korean Zombie)
The original plan was for Zombie to fight Brian Ortega and for Edger to fight Cory Sandhagen at UFC Raleigh. Early in December Ortega notified the UFC that he had partially torn his ACL which inclined them to have Edger replace Ortega. With the notion that if Edger made it out of this fight untouched, he would still fight in Raleigh. With this being said Zombie did manage to get out of his fight untouched. The UFC has made it clear that Zombie is either next in line for the title or one fight away from it. It is also likely that the UFC will look to book a rematch between Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway. That would give Zombie the perfect amount of time to take another fight before he gets his crack at the title. Were Sandhagen (a large featherweight) to move up with the loss of the Edgar fight, that could be interesting. If not, Zabit Magomedsharipov makes a lot of sense for Zombie.
Zombie’s Next Fight: Zabit Magomedsharipov, Cory Sandhagen
Volkan Oezdemir
Volkan Oezdemir won a split decision over Aleksander Rakic this past Saturday. The only fighters ahead of him in the rankings that aren’t booked for a fight are Thiago Santos and Anthony Smith. In his post-fight interview, Oezdemir mentioned that he would either like to fight the champion or have a rematch with Anthony Smith. Although every fighter would like to move forward after a win, his fight with Rakic was very close and could have been scored either way. It is believed that Santos is still in title contention and if this is true, a fight between him and Anthony Smith would be ideal.
Volkan’s Next Fight: Rematch with Smith
Ciryl Gane
Ciryl Gane is an up and coming heavyweight. One who just won the first decision of his career against Tanner Boser at UFC Busan. He is now 3-0 in the UFC and 6-0 as a pro. Gane boasts three submission wins and two knockout wins. It’s worth noting that Gane has a mild amount of hype based around him because he trains with Francis Ngannou. While the UFC’s best plan is to push Gane as slow as they can, they have a few options on the table right now to move him in the top 15. Sergei Pavlovich sits at 14 at heavyweight while Marcin Tybura is currently sitting at number 15.
Pavlovich is currently 2-1 in the UFC. He lost his debut to Alistair Overeem and defeated Marcelo Golm and Maurice Greene after that. Pavlovich is currently trending up which could mean that his next opponent will be ranked higher than him.
On the other hand, we have Marcin Tybura. Tybura is 4-5 in the UFC while holding a 17-6 overall record. He is currently on a two-fight losing streak which puts him in a must-win position in his next fight. What better fight to make then an up-and-coming heavyweight looking to break into the top 15 fighting the number 15 ranked heavyweight that needs a win to possibly save his job.
Gane’s Next Fight: Marcin Tybura
