At UFC 248 this past weekend, Brian "T-City" Ortega missed one of the greatest fights in UFC history (Weili Zhang versus Joanna Jedrzerjczyk) because he was thrown out for slapping Chang Sung Jung's (Korean Zombie) friend and translator Jay Park. Here is a video of the incident.
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This apparently stemmed from Jay Park translating trash talk from Korean Zombie on an episode of Ariel Helwani's MMA Show. The two were scheduled to fight at UFC+ 23 but Ortega was force to pull out because of an injury. In the interview, Korean Zombie said the following, which was translated through Jay Park:
“It doesn’t matter (if it’s) Holloway, Volkanovski, or Ortega....but Ortega already ducked (me) once. (I) don’t need to fight a fighter that’s already ducked (me) one time.”
Brian Ortega did not take lightly of those comments. In response, Brian Ortega said the following on February 10th, 2020:
Brian Ortega threatens Jay Park
“When I saw him [Park] in Korea, he apologized and said sorry for the trash talk, and I said all good because at least you came at me like a man,” Ortega wrote in a comment on Instagram. Now you just a b*tch dawg. Jay Park welcome to the fight game don’t be surprised if I slap the sh*t out of you when I see you. Having an injury and ducking are 2 different things.”
In response, Jay Park wrote:
“Don’t shoot the messenger/translator....can’t blame the man for trying to shake sh*t up and get a title shot. Plus he got the performances to back it up. Respect to u for pulling up to Korea for press but #teamzombie all day.”
That apparently did not go over well this past Saturday as Ortega walked over to Jay Park while Korean Zombie was away from his seat and did what he said he was going to do. Of course, Brian Ortega was escorted out of the building just as the co-main event was about to happen, and missed one the best fights ever.
This incident has probably put Rener Gracie in a weird position as he is Ortega's coach but seems to be on good terms with Korean Zombie. Here is a video of Rener and Korean Zombie during a light and fun roll in Korea:
The Aftermath
Obviously things did not go over well with Korean Zombie as he took to Instagram to express his frustration:
Jay Park also responded with the following message:
Who Is Jay Park?
So besides being Korean Zombie's translator, who is Jay Park? Born in in the Greater Seattle Area, Park was started breakdancing at a young age and joined the the Art of Movement crew. He rose to prominence when he got signed to K-pop group 2PM. However, his career as a member of the group was short-lived as he left the group in 2010. Since then he has gone on to a solo career and eventually landed a deal with Jay-Z's Roc Nation in 2017. While still relatively unknown in the West, Park is a household name in South Korea and in many parts of Asia.
This situation is all really weird. Jay Park was just translating for Korean Zombie. and Brian Ortega is one of the most laid back guys on the UFC roster. So this is weird all around. But it is probably going to set up a huge fight for Ortega and Chan down the line though.
