Leonard Garcia, April 2010
Time dulls some memories, but not this one. If you haven’t seen the first fight between Jung and Leonard Garcia in the WEC, click that link above right now and then come back. I’ll be waiting for you. This may have been one of the greatest introductions to a fighter we’ve ever seen, and while Jung lost a split decision to Garcia that night in Sacramento, this fight was so good that the result really didn’t matter. Seriously. And when it was over, a legend from South Korea was born.
“When I was fighting Garcia, I couldn’t hear anything because of the roar of the crowd,” Jung recalled. “I just heard the roaring sound. That’s when I thought, it’s very cool that I’m here. And even though I lost, I think the Korean Zombie was born. I exist because of that fight.”
Leonard Garcia, March 2011
It wasn’t the “Fight of the Decade” like their first bout was, but Chan Sung Jung made a good case for earning Submission of the Year consideration after he finished Leonard Garcia in the second round with the first Twister submission in the history of the UFC. See post-fight interview
The featherweight bout was a rematch of the April 2010 war in the WEC that saw Garcia win a close decision over “The Korean Zombie”.
It only took around a minute for the two friendly rivals to warm up and start getting into it, with Garcia taking an early lead thanks to a thudding right punch to the head. Jung stood back, looking to counter, but Garcia continued to land the cleaner shots, bruising his foe under the right eye. With under two minutes left, Jung took Garcia to the mat, and there he had more success, landing a series of ground strikes as he easily won the positional game on the ground.
The pace was more measured in round two, with each fighter cautious about getting into all-out exchanges. But just as in the first round, it was Jung finishing strong as he was able to work Garcia over on the mat in the final minutes, and with time running out, he sprang into action, locking in the Twister submission made famous by Eddie Bravo that forced Garcia to tap out at 4:59 of the second round.
