‘The Great’ takes on ‘Korean Zombie’ in potential featherweight classic

UFC 273 at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida will be headlined by a potential featherweight championship classic, as title holder Alexander ‘The Great’ Volkanovski takes on Chan Sung Jung ‘The Korean Zombie’ in the main event on the morning of Sunday 10 April 2022.

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Volkanovski (23-1, 11 KO) has put together a 20-fight win streak and established himself as the ‘top dog’ in the featherweight division. He won the title by defeating Max Holloway by unanimous decision in December 2019, and has defended it successfully twice since, overcoming Holloway by split decision in July 2020 and Brian Ortega by unanimous decision in September last year.

The Australian admitted that the chance to complete a trilogy with Holloway was denied by the latter suffering an injury, but is looking forward to facing fan-favourite Chan.

“Man, I just was really looking forward to that fight. I really was. And I just had started — I was ready to get into camp and get things going and end that chapter, and all that type of stuff,” said Volkanovski.

“But as everyone says — well, ‘Blessed’ [Holloway] says — it is what it is. But it was unfortunate. Of course it’s a big fight, I know people wanted to see it. But what do you do? That’ll just have to wait until later.”

He added, “So the boys talked with [the UFC], they chatted to me, and then just [Jung] was the only [option] that made sense. And again, they know what I’m like. If I was going to fight guys that don’t really deserve it, I don’t like that. That’s not what I’m what I’m about. I’m about, give me the guys that make sense. He’s an OG of the sport. You talk about legacy, he’s one of the biggest names in the division as well. I want to take out all the guys, the legends of the featherweight division.”

Chan (17-6, 6 KO) comes into the fight on the back of a unanimous decision win over Dan Ige in June of 2021 – a third victory from his last four trips to the Octagon.

The 34-year-old, affectionately known as ‘The Korean Zombie’ for his ability to keep walking forward even when absorbing blows, has fought for the featherweight championship before, losing to fellow legend Jose Aldo (via TKO) way back in 2013.

The co-main event of UFC 273 is another title bout, this one for the bantamweight championship, as Aljamain Sterling (20-3, 2 KO) faces Petr Yan (16-2, 7 KO) for the second time. The pair fought for the title at UFC 259 in March last year and Sterling claimed the belt in controversial circumstances, with Yan disqualified for an illegal knee strike.

The pair have traded insults on social media ever since – with the banter going to a whole new level when Yan defeated Cory Sandhagen to claim the interim title in October (when Sterling was unavailable due to injury) – and UFC fans can expect sparks to fly in what should be an explosive grudge match.

The rest of the main card features Gilbert Burns v Khamzat Chimaev in the welterweight division; a women’s strawweight clash between Mackenzie Dern and Tecia Torres; as well as heavyweights Aleksei Oleinik and Jared Vanderaa going to war.

Sadly, South Africa’s Dricus du Plessis missed out on the chance to face top-10 ranked middleweight Kelvin Gastelum after the latter pulled out of the bout due to injury.

UFC 273 - Main card

- Main event: Featherweight championship: Alexander Volkanovski v Chan Sung Jung

- Co-main: Bantamweight championship: Aljamain Sterling v Petr Yan

- Welterweight: Gilbert Burns v Khamzat Chimaev

- Women’s strawweight: Mackenzie Dern v Tecia Torres

- Heavyweight: Aleksei Oleinik v Jared Vanderaa