Yahoo Lifestyle Frankie Edgar sees UFC main event against Chan Sung Jung as a legacy bout
Frankie Edgar jumped at the chance to finally fight former featherweight title challenger Chan Sung Jung in South Korea this weekend when Jung’s originally scheduled opponent Brian Ortega was forced out with injury. Speaking to John Hyon Ko of Rank 5 this week “The Answer” explained that a big reason why he did choose to face Jung on short notice was because he sees so much of himself in his opponent.
“I think what makes it intriguing is fighting ‘Zombie’ here in his own country, the style he brings. I mean, they call him ‘The Zombie’ for a reason,” Edgar said.
“He takes a beating and keeps coming. You can’t really really put him away. He fights with a ton of heart and I consider myself a guy that fights that way as well.”
Take Edgar’s fights with Gray Maynard, for example, where Edgar was hurt badly early on but managed to survive and excel afterward. “I was pretty much dead in the cage and found a way to win or found a way to bounce back,” he recounted.
Edgar and Jung were previously tabbed to face one another and the New Jersey resident said he’s glad he’ll finally get to test his own mettle against Jung.
“Definitely. I felt like it was a little bit of unfinished business,” he admitted.
“I was really close to fighting him. I believe he wanted to fight me. I wanted to fight him. To have a guy like Chan on my record is something that I wanted to have and luckily this opportunity came up.”
Prior to agreeing to fight Jung this week, the former lightweight champion Edgar was set to drop down to bantamweight. Edgar lost to then-featherweight champion Max Holloway last July and now that Holloway is no longer the 145 pound king the 38-year-old says he’d welcome another crack at featherweight gold against new champion Alexander Volkanovski should he beat Jung in this Saturday’s UFC main event.
“I would absolutely take a fight against Volkanovski,” Edgar enthused. “I’m in it to fight the best guys. That’s why I’m fighting Chan. I came in this sport to be a champion.”
The veteran and future Hall of Famer clearly wants to become a champion once more, but even he admits that he can’t predict the future. What’s more, he doesn’t seem interested in trying to.
Edgar doesn’t know what’s coming next for him, but so long as it’s exciting, fans can count him interested.
“I really don’t know what’s left for me. Opportunities like this, I guess,” he concluded. “Opportunities like this I didn’t foresee coming. I’m willing to jump at stuff like this because, you know, time goes by pretty quick and I know it’s not going to stop for anybody. So, if I have the opportunity to experience something new, I’m all game.”
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