Brian Ortega out of Korean Zombie bout due to injury, Frankie Edgar steps in as replacement
Those who have patiently anticipated Brian Ortega’s comeback will now have to wait a little longer. As his first scheduled fight since his brutal war against Max Holloway just under a year ago at UFC 231, the matchup against the Korean Zombie promised to close off 2019 with fireworks in South Korea, pitching two fan-favourites against one another for a potential number one contender spot in the featherweight division. However, it was reported yesterday that Ortega had pulled out of the fight due to an undisclosed injury – later revealed to be a partially torn ACL by Ortega himself:
— Brian Ortega (@BrianTcity) December 5, 2019
Having teased various changes made to his camp and approach to MMA following the Holloway loss, the fight was posed to answer various questions regarding Ortega’s skills and ability to bounce back from his first defeat, in which he struggled to provide an answer for the champion’s striking prowess.
To add to that, Zombie’s infamous durability and top-tier striking, which looked better than ever in his last outing, will most likely make the bout anything but an easy outing for Edgar – so the chances of his Raleigh fight still occurring seem slim to none. Sandhagen, seemingly wise to this, doesn’t too happy about Edgar’s decision to step in:
Asked @cors_life how he felt about potentially losing the @FrankieEdgar fight next month. In short, he isn’t happy. Here’s what he said: pic.twitter.com/KQwCOKr3LT
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) December 5, 2019
This won’t be the first time Edgar has trained to fight Zombie – the two were slated to clash just over a year ago at UFC Fight Night 139 in Denver, but Edgar was forced to pull out due to injury. Despite most likely needing to wait a little longer for his bantamweight debut, fans can at least be reassured that South Korea’s main event will still close the year off with a bang.
