Making a Statement to Start the Run
The UFC is an international organization with more diversity in its ranks than almost any other professional sports organization in the world.
The roster is full of fighters from all different backgrounds and from multiple countries from around the world.
That has helped to grow the sport from every corner of the planet but the centre of power remains in North and South America.
Namely the USA and Brazil where the majority of champions are from and have been from for the last two decades.
There are better fighters coming every year and the development is only getting quicker especially for fighters in places outside of the Americas.
There are more European fighters than ever making a serious impact in the promotion with European champions becoming a more common occurrence.
The one place that seems to have struggled to develop those superstars in the UFC is in Asia.
It is a surprising development as Asia is one of the few regions in the world that can claim a longer and more storied history of combat sports than anywhere else.
Martial Arts have been a way of life for generations in the region and MMA fits perfectly into that way of life.
The success of that history has played through before with promotions like Pride leading the way for MMA promotions like the UFC.
Yet with the rise of the UFC, the Asian fighters have not been able to keep up with the development.
Whether it is due to the lack of concentration of fighting in the region or the trouble of having these fighters travel to fight, the lack of success in the UFC is surprising.
There has never been an Asian champion in the history of the promotion despite plenty of legends coming through the roster.
It has been a struggle for those Asian fighters to find that success but things seem to be developing no matter how slowly.
There will be a title challenger in the women’s strawweight division when Weili Zhang fights Jessica Andrade in August.
There have been a handful of Asian fighters who have gained enough of a name to earn a title shot and that list could only be getting bigger.
Chan Sung Jung was one of the few when he fought for the Featherweight title in 2013 but he couldn’t get by a prime Jose Aldo.
The Korean Zombie then took time off to serve in the Korean military and found his way back to the UFC for another run.
His return in 2017 was a great one when he beat Dennis Bermudez by KO in the first round of their fight.
The road hasn’t been entirely smooth though as he then lost his second fight back to Yair Rodriguez.
Jung clearly has all of the skills to be great as he has shown an ability to take punishment and hand out worse.
He can make a run back to the title with his skills but he needs to get on a roll as it is no longer enough to be impressive in a few fights.
He needs to do it for an extended period of time and not only that but he needs to make people notice him through highlight finishes.
The way to the title as never been tougher as it is harder for people to be seen in this new era of ESPN with most of the fights behind a paywall.
It is tough for a fighter to make an impression when nobody is watching meaning that wins have to be that much bigger and better.
That is what both Jung and Renato Moicano were facing heading into their main event fight in Greenville.
It didn’t take too long for one to come through as the fight only lasted 58 seconds before Jung landed a massive right hand.
He never got to show the reason for his nickname as he didn’t have time to take much damage.
It was an impressive win for the Korean and will get him back on track but once again was it enough for him to get noticed?
He will need a lot more wins like that if he hopes to enter into the featherweight conversation but this win is a great start.
The Sport Addiction 