4. Chan Sung Jung vs. Leonard Garcia
WEC 48 | April 24, 2010
Jung, who showed exactly why he earned the “Korean Zombie” nickname in this outing, was making his promotional debut on the WEC’s first and only pay-per-view effort. His bout with Garcia was the Spike TV lead-in to the main card, and matchmaker Sean Shelby could not possibly have booked a better fight to drive interest in the pay portion of the event. Garcia was a former title challenger with a reputation for dropping bombs, and Jung was happy to oblige.
The fight was utter insanity. The feeling-out process lasted exactly one minute, and after that, all bets were off. Garcia tagged Jung with a right hand and then the madness began. Jung landed a flying knee against the fence, and both men were more than willing to bang it out in the pocket. The Korean dropped him with a three-punch combination later in the first and nearly got the finish, but Garcia fought back and stayed in the fight. The second and the third offered more of the same, a smorgasbord of absurd haymakers, wild exchanges and straight-up craziness that has rarely been matched.
While ridiculously bad scorecards that somehow awarded Garcia a split decision marred the bout’s outcome, it was nevertheless the “Fight of the Year” by a long stretch, and it still holds up on a re-viewing.
Number 3 » Cerrone vs. McCullough