"It's absolutely a No. 1 contender fight," UFC president Dana White told ESPN. "First of all, this fight should have happened a long time ago. We're finally here. All the crazy stuff that's happened. Crazy stuff always happens in this sport. Zombie [Jung] vs. Ortega. Absolutely, the winner of this fight should be the next title shot.”
Ortega and Jung were scheduled to meet at UFC Fight Night 165 on Dec. 21, but Ortega was forced to withdraw from the contest due to a knee injury.
Ortega hasn’t competed since falling to Max Holloway via four-round doctor stoppage at UFC 231 in December 2018. Prior to that, “T-City” had won six straight Octagon appearances. Ortega is 14-1 with one on contest as a professional overall.
After Ortega exited their proposed clash, Jung dispatched replacement foe Frankie Edgar via first-round TKO in the new UFC Fight Night 165 headliner. “The Korean Zombie” has been victorious in three of his last four promotional appearances, and his lone defeat during that time came as a result of a Hail Mary KO from Yair Rodriguez.