'You slapped a civilian': Outrage over UFC star's 'coward' attack
A bitter feud has broken out between two UFC featherweight fighters after a crazy incident at UFC 248 in Las Vegas.
Chan Sung Jung - better known as “The Korean Zombie” - has vowed to avenge an attack on his translator by fellow featherweight, Brian Ortega.
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Jay Park, a Korean rapper and occasional translator for the Korean Zombie, filed a police report in Las Vegas over the weekend after alleging that Ortega slapped him during the event at the T-Mobile Arena.
ESPN has reported that Park is reportedly undecided on whether to press charges against Ortega.
The fiery incident comes after Ortega pulled out of a scheduled fight with Jung in South Korea last December because of a torn ACL.
A Las Vegas police public information officer told ESPN Park has up to one year to make a decision on whether to press charges.
TMZ has since posted video of the aftermath of the incident, in which Ortega can be seen restrained and saying “I told you I’d slap you like a b----.”
If charges are pressed, police would investigate the incident as a misdemeanour battery case.
"I don't want to take this dude's money," Park told ESPN.
"I don't want him to go to jail or anything like that. I don't wish anything bad about him. It was just really weird. I don't know what other way to put it. I don't know what he was thinking. He needs to get his act together. Real talk."
‘Korean Zombie’ pledges to knock Ortega out
While Park said he doesn’t want anything bad to happen to Ortega, Jung seems to have other ideas in mind judging from a scorching and foul-mouthed Instagram rant.
In a lengthy caption, Jung accused Ortega of waiting until he went to the bathroom before attacking Park.
The fighter went on to label the American a “coward” and claimed he was trying to use the Korean’s name to get himself into the spotlight.
Warning, the following post contains profanity.
Why did Ortega slap Korean Zombie’s translator?
According to ESPN, Park said he believes Ortega was unhappy with a translation Park gave for Jung during an interview in mid-February.
In one translation, Park reportedly said Ortega was scared to fight Jung, which prompted a threat from Ortega on social media after the interview.
Park backed up Jung’s account of the incident, saying Ortega was seated near the two in the crowd at UFC 248.
Once Jung left for the bathroom, Ortega allegedly approached Park and slapped him in the face.
"He's like, 'Hey dog, are you Jay Park?'" Park told ESPN.
"It kind of caught me by surprise. As I stood up, he like smacked me. ... It was very narrow. There were chairs behind me, so I kind of fell back, and then I got up and I kind of pushed him."
Ortega was reportedly escorted out of the arena after the incident, while Park said he experienced jaw stiffness from the alleged slap.
Park also said he did not mistranslate Jung’s statement from February and that Ortega effectively slapped the messenger:
"For me, to be honest, I don't feel like I did anything wrong," Park said.
"I just translated. I never put words in Zombie's mouth. I've never put up a [social media] caption for him. I never told him to trash-talk. I have a lot of respect for fighters. They put everything on the line -- they train hard, they fight for their family."
With Yahoo Sports US