Charles Jourdain and Doo Ho Choi’s Fight of the Night was the Busan card’s most physically compelling individual result. Choi suffered a broken forearm during the fight but continued competing. Jourdain — a 24-year-old Montreal, Canada FW making only his second UFC appearance — knocked out Choi with punches at 4:32 of round two. The fight’s emotional resonance was layered: Jourdain was a young Canadian in Choi’s home country, stopping one of South Korean MMA’s most beloved individual fighters before his home crowd. Jourdain’s first UFC win on Korean soil with a Fight of the Night against a South Korean crowd favourite was one of the year’s most dramatically complete individual competitive moments.

Da Un Jung’s 64-second KO of Mike Rodriguez in round one was the Busan card’s most locally resonant individual result outside the main event: a South Korean LHW winning in one minute before his home country crowd. Volkan Oezdemir’s split decision over Aleksander Rakic generated post-fight controversy — Rakic publicly stated his belief that he had won the fight. Alexandre Pantoja’s Performance of the Night in the flyweight division closed a card that MMA media described as one of the year’s most atmospherically complete individual event experiences.

Full Results

Main Card (ESPN+)

Chan Sung Jung def. Frankie Edgar — TKO (punches) — R1, 3:18 — FW (PoN $50k; Edgar 2-WEEK REPLACEMENT for Ortega; right hand wobble + back control + GnP + stand-up barrage; ‘I WANT VOLKANOVSKI!’ post-fight in English!)

Volkan Oezdemir def. Aleksander Rakic — Split Decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) — LHW (CONTROVERSIAL; Rakic publicly stated he won; ‘we all know who the real winner is’; Oezdemir 2nd consecutive win after Uruguay PoN)

Charles Jourdain def. Doo Ho Choi — TKO (punches) — R2, 4:32 — FW (FotN $50k each; CHOI BROKE HIS FOREARM during the fight but kept fighting! Jourdain FIRST UFC WIN; Canadian stops Korean home favourite in Korea!)

Da Un Jung def. Mike Rodriguez — KO (punch) — R1, 1:04 — LHW (Korean fighter KO in HOME COUNTRY in 64 seconds! Busan crowd celebrated)

Jun Yong Park def. opponent — MW (Korean fighter at home card)

Preliminary Card (ESPN / ESPN+)

Alexandre Pantoja def. opponent — FLW (PoN $50k; Pantoja finishing performance; future UFC FLW champion!)

Loma Lookboonmee def. opponent — Women’s SBW (Sherdog: unusual technical submission from female fighter — Lookboonmee’s 2nd UFC fight, first WIN)

7 South Korean fighters competed across the card — record South Korean representation at a UFC event

Bonuses & Awards

🥇 Fight of the Night: Charles Jourdain + Doo Ho Choi — $50,000 each (Choi broke forearm but kept fighting! Jourdain first UFC win in Korea)

🥇 Performance of the Night: Chan Sung Jung + Alexandre Pantoja — $50,000 each

Records & Milestones

• First UFC event in Busan; second in South Korea (after Henderson vs. Masvidal in November 2015 in Seoul).

• Final UFC event of 2019 (505th UFC event in history).

• 7 South Korean fighters on the Busan card — record South Korean UFC representation.

• Edgar’s two-week acceptance as late replacement for Ortega; one of the shortest preparation periods for a major UFC FW main event.

Legacy & Impact

Jung’s Busan TKO of Edgar produced the UFC FW title fight against Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 273 in April 2022, where Volkanovski won by unanimous decision. His ‘I want Volkanovski!’ call-out in Busan became the promotion’s most reproduced individual event-night declaration of the year’s final card. Edgar’s Busan loss was his fourth in five fights; his subsequent career produced a move to bantamweight, where he continued competing through 2022.

Jourdain’s first UFC win over Choi — in Korea, in a FotN against a beloved South Korean — launched the FW career that produced wins over Zubaira Tukhugov, Marcelo Rojo, and others before a top-fifteen FW ranking. Pantoja’s Busan PoN was a step in the FLW career that produced the interim title fight at UFC 277 and the undisputed championship at UFC 301 in May 2024. Da Un Jung’s Busan KO of Rodriguez was a competitive validation before the South Korean home crowd that his subsequent LHW career built upon.

FAQ

What was Doo Ho Choi’s broken forearm?

Choi suffered a broken forearm during the second round of his fight with Jourdain. The injury was confirmed after the event and required surgical repair. Despite the fracture, Choi continued competing through the second round before Jourdain’s punch combination produced the TKO stoppage at 4:32. Competing through a broken forearm — with its associated reduction in defensive and offensive capability — was one of the individual physical performances that earned the fight its Fight of the Night designation alongside its standalone competitive quality.

What was the Rakic vs. Oezdemir controversy?

Rakic’s post-fight comment — ‘we all know who the real winner is’ — reflected his view that his LHW performance against Oezdemir had produced a competitive advantage that the 28-29, 29-28, 29-28 split did not accurately reflect. Oezdemir’s two consecutive wins after his three-fight losing streak (Cannonier, Reyes, Rakic losses + Latifi win + Rakic) continued his career rebuild. Both fighters acknowledged the competitive closeness of the three-round exchange.

What was Frankie Edgar’s late replacement context?

Edgar was 38 years old, with a 22-7-1 professional record, and accepted the Ortega replacement two weeks before the event. The short preparation window for a main event FW fight against a contender of Jung’s quality was the competitive context that media noted as commercially impressive as an act of competitive willingness. His 1-3 record in his previous four fights reflected the competitive challenges his late-career FW positioning had produced against the division’s elite.

Who was Alexandre Pantoja before Busan?

Pantoja was a 29-year-old Rio de Janeiro FLW who had gone 20-4 professionally before Busan. His UFC career had produced wins over Eric Shelton and Wilson Reis before losses to Brandon Moreno and Deiveson Figueiredo at FN159. His Busan PoN finish was a competitive validation against a divisional opponent. His subsequent FLW career produced an interim title fight against Brandon Moreno at UFC 277 before the undisputed championship at UFC 301 in May 2024 against Moreno.

What was Da Un Jung’s significance?

Da Un Jung was a 28-year-old Seoul, South Korea LHW competing before his home country crowd in Busan. His 64-second KO of Mike Rodriguez — a one-punch finish in the opening minute of round one — was one of Busan’s most locally resonant individual results alongside the main event. Rodriguez was a 26-year-old Phoenix LHW with UFC experience. Jung’s Busan KO was part of the South Korean fighter’s LHW career that produced additional wins and a top-fifteen ranking.

What was Jourdain’s first win significance?

Jourdain was a 24-year-old Montreal, Canada FW who had lost his UFC debut to Doo Ho Choi was his second UFC fight. His first UFC win — stopping Choi with punches at 4:32 of round two before a South Korean home crowd — was one of the sport’s most dramatically contextualised individual first wins: a young Canadian stopping a beloved Korean home favourite in Busan, Korea, with a Fight of the Night bonus, as the UFC’s final event of the year. MMAMania noted it was ‘his first inside the Octagon.’

References

UFC Fight Night 165: Edgar vs. Korean Zombie — Wikipedia

UFC Fight Night 165 — Tapology

UFC Fight Night 165: Edgar vs. The Korean Zombie | Event Profile, Full Results & Legacy

Table of Contents

Introduction

Busan — Korean Zombie’s Homeland Farewell to 2019

Quick Stats

Main Event: Korean Zombie’s R1 TKO & Title Call-Out

Jourdain/Choi’s FotN, Da Un Jung’s Home KO & The Card