The Korean Zombie is still looking for one of the gloves that was stolen straight from his hand at UFC Singapore.
Last month, the South Korean fan favorite made his final walk to the Octagon, closing out an incredible career that has seen him challenge for the featherweight world title on two separate occasions. Ready to call it a career, TKZ returned after a year-long layoff to face one of the few men he had yet to meet in the 145-pound division, Max Holloway.
The pair delivered on their promise of an absolute barnburner with ‘Blessed’ scoring a vicious knockout mere seconds into the third round of their headliner in Lion City.
Following the loss, Korean Zombie delivered an emotional goodbye to fight fans and made the long walk to the back with his final fair of MMA gloves in his hand. Sadly, one unruly fan reached over the railing during his exit and pried one of the prized four-ounce gloves from his possession.
He gave everything out there for the fans, and as a final act they snatched his gloves and as his final act he gave it away. Thank you zombie. #UFCSingapore #KoreanZombie pic.twitter.com/m7Gl2bhQpB
— Vipin Santhosh (@VipinSanthosh1) August 26, 2023
Taking to his YouTube channel, Zombie vented his frustration over losing the irreplaceable heirloom and expressed a strong desire to get them back. He echoed those same sentiments during an appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani.
“Somebody took my glove,” Zombie said via a translator. “I was holding my retirement gloves in my left hand and I kept my left hand folded because I wanted to keep my gloves and somebody grabbed ahold of my wrist and took one of my gloves. So the biggest reason why I’m on The MMA Hour is because I want to point out the fact that somebody took my gloves. I want them back. I want the American audience to know that I really want them back.”
Somebody give TKZ his gloves back.#TheMMAHour pic.twitter.com/2cugpGTqBi
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) September 6, 2023
Korean Zombie Confirms That He Was Able to Recover One of the Gloves He Lost at UFC Singapore
After one of the gloves was taken from him, Zombie chucked the last remaining one into the crowd. Fortunately, the fan who caught it was kind enough to return it. But TKZ is not so certain he will ever see the other one again.
“If you look at the UFC footage of me walking off the stage, there’s a video of me throwing the other glove,” Zombie continued. “That I’ve already found. A Korean fan actually found the glove and decided to give it back to me. So I’m probably going to give him a T-shirt instead for returning my glove, but the person that grabbed a hold of my wrist and took the glove, I don’t know if it’s not malicious.
“It’s basically stealing and this has a very very significant mental value to it so I really wanted to keep them, but I don’t know if I can find him because he took it from me. The fan took it from me. There weren’t any special leads that I’ve found after the video was uploaded so I don’t know if I can find it.”
Korean Zombie, real name Chan Sung Jung, finished his mixed martial arts career going 17-8 with seven of his victories coming under the UFC banner. Making his promotional debut in 2011, Zombie immediately etched his name in the history books by becoming the first fighter to submit his opponent via twister.
He went on to earn victories over some of the sports’ biggest names, including Dustin Poirier, Frankie Edgar, and Dan Ige.
