In his second title fight, Zumbi Coreano remembers the duel with José Aldo: 'I was nervous'

J. Aldo and Korean zombie they faced each other in August 2013 Photo: Disclosure/ UFC

Ready for his second fight for the featherweight belt (up to 65,7kg), Korean zombie denied that he is feeling pressured to confront Alexander Volkanovsky. The Asian fighter admitted that he was very nervous in the duel against José Aldo and drew a comparison between the two fighters. The statement was given in the 'half day' of UFC 273, scheduled for next Saturday (09).

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“When I prepared for my title fight, I was very nervous. Everything was very new to me and I was very young. At that age, fighting for the world title was obviously something that made me very nervous. Now, I feel like I've gotten older, I'm less nervous and I'm more experienced. I'm more prepared for the fight than when I was preparing for the fight against Aldo. When I was in Brazil for the fight with Aldo, a lot of Brazilians met me and said, 'You're going to lose, you're probably going to die in the Octagon'. It was kind of threatening for me and I was nervous about what happened,” said Zumbi.

The challenger made a comparison between Aldo and Volkanovski and emphasized that he will not feel the pressure of another fight for the featherweight belt.

“Because of this experience, I don’t care who comes up to me and tells me what the result will be. I'm prepared for the fight. I was more scared of Aldo, because I was really scared of getting knocked out by him. In that sense, Aldo is at the top. Volkanovski, on the other hand, is a very intelligent fighter. I really don't see myself getting knocked out by Volkanovski. But, I think in terms of fight IQ and how smart he fights, Volkanovski is the best fighter I've ever faced,” concluded the featherweight challenger.

The first title fight Korean zombie happened at UFC 163, in August 2013. On that occasion, the challenger delivered a very tough confrontation against the champion José Aldo but was knocked out in the fourth round. At 35 years old, the Asian athlete has a record of 17 triumphs and six setbacks in professional MMA.

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