For the newer fans of MMA, it might be hard to understand just why Chang Sung-Jung was so beloved by MMA fans around the world. There have been a lot of legends fall away recently, but few former fighters have ever had the outpouring of admiration for them that Zombie has had in the last 24h. It's understandable as well, especially if you've watched his career from the beginning. He is one of the rare former non-champions that will almost definitely find his way into the Hall of Fame.
From the iconic walkout to an incredibly fan friendly fighting style, Zombie really was the darling of MMA fans worldwide. He had an almost sweet attitude, humble, funny at times and almost self-deprecating. This, and so, so much more helped endear him to the hearts of fans of this mental sport we all love.
The only place to start a tribute article for The Korean Zombie would be the Garcia fights. The first fight vs Leonard Garcia will undoubtedly go down as one of the greatest fights of all time, in all of combat sports. if you haven't seen it already, please, do yourself a favour and go watch it. It's free on youtube. In fact, I'm that certain you will enjoy it, I'll even link right below so its easier to get.
The fight was two 145lb warriors trying to take each others heads off for 15 minutes of pure unadulterated chaos. Zombie eventually lost a razor tight decision, but the fight only added to the mystique and pretty much started the Korean Zombie nickname. Both men took, and handed out what could have been a life changing beating to each other, yet both were still standing despite it all at the end of the fight. If you asked a movie producer to coordinate the best possible fight for a movie scene, it would look a lot like the first Zombie vs Garcia fight.
The second fight was equally as impressive, but for different reasons. It wasn't the 3 round blood fest that the first fight was, instead it was TKZ and his submission skills that stole the headlines with a mindboggling Twister submission, the first ever twister in UFC history. In hindsight, it was incredibly fitting that a fighter with the cult following of TKZ landed a submission that has just as strong a cult following, for the first time ever in the companies history as well.
He didn't stop there either. Zombie went on to record wins over the likes of Dennis Bermudez, Dustin Poirier, Mark Hominick, Renato Moicano, Frankie Edgar and many, many more. As well as also fighting Jose Aldo, Max Holloway, Alexander Volkanovski, Yair Rodriguez and Brian Ortega. He truly did fight the who's-who of MMA in two separate eras. To make this even more impressive, he took a 3 and a half year hiatus during the prime of his career in order to fulfil his national duty of military service, something all Korean men have to do. Imagine his resume if he had stayed fighting for those 3 years.
Why Is His Career So Important to Fans?
TKZ and his career resonated with so many because of his fight style, along with his infectious personality that won the hearts of so many. Always respectful, always the entertaining, Chang Sung-Jung is truly one of the Greatest fighters to never win a title, ever. During his prime, you could land a shot clean on his chin, followed up by a perfectly placed head kick, and the fan favourite would eat it like it was nothing and continue to walk his opponents down. Even if they managed to drop him, good luck finishing him. He would take the best shot his opponents could throw at him, and continue walking them down with reckless abandon.
He also didn't care much for the trash talking side. The only fighter I can remember him having any proper 'beef' with was Brian T-City Ortega, however even that was due to his translator rather than anything he said himself, and T-City eventually apologised for it. Otherwise he was unanimously respected, to the point even Holloway held back after dropping him as he didn't seem to want to land any needless damage to a true legend of the sport.
Chang Sung-Jung may never have won a title in the UFC, and it wasn't for the lack of trying, but he definitely won our hearts with his style and attitude towards everything fighting and life. From his reckless brawls to his sweet interviews and claiming he got lucky in some wins, to doing his military service at the peak of his career with next to no complaints, to his iconic walkout to the Cranberries, Zombie was, and is a special fighter, during a special era of the sport and will be remembered fondly for generations to come.
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