After win over 'Zombie,' UFC Fight Night 104's Dennis Bermudez wants interim champ Holloway

HOUSTON – Dennis Bermudez has a plan in place after Saturday night, and it’s a good one.

Bermudez (16-5 MMA, 9-3 UFC) fights “The Korean Zombie,” Chan Sung Jung (13-4 MMA, 3-1 UFC), in the main event of UFC Fight Night 104 in Houston. The featherweight has back-to-back wins right now – but but has won nine of his past 11 overall.

If he beats Jung, who is fighting for the first time in three and a half years, Bermudez said today he wants to be catapulted right to the upper echelon of the 145-pound division again. He wants a fight against interim featherweight champion Max Holloway (17-3 MMA, 13-3 UFC).

“After picking up a win here, realistically I would like to fight Max Holloway,” Bermudez told MMAjunkie today in Houston. “I’ve got a win over him, and he’s got the interim belt, man. That’s the reason why I signed up to be in the UFC, is to be a world champion.”

UFC Fight Night 104 takes place Saturday at Toyota Center in Houston with Bermudez and Jung in the headliner. The card airs on FS1 following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass.

Holloway has a 10-fight winning streak after back-to-back decision losses to Conor McGregor (in McGregor’s second UFC fight) and Bermudez. So Bermudez’s desire for some vengeance makes sense.

Holloway will be out of action for a bit healing up an injured foot, but presumably he’s expected to fight champ Jose Aldo at some point to unify the belts. Holloway won the interim title, which the UFC took away from then-two-division champ Conor McGregor, against Anthony Pettis at UFC 206 in December.

But if there’s going to be a delay with getting a Holloway-Aldo fight booked, Bermudez apparently has no problem jumping the line with the hopes of knocking off the interim champ to get a belt, then go for the lineal title against Aldo.

“It’s good. I’m just trying to enjoy it and not worry about what’s actually at stake here, right?,” Bermudez said. “This is a super big opportunity, super big scene here. So I’m just really trying to have fun with it and just have fun with the whole experience, you know? All the hard work’s done. Just go out there and do what I do. I’ll be fine.”

Against Jung, Bermudez is a 2-1 favorite, and some of that almost certainly has to do with Jung’s prolonged time away from the cage. But Bermudez said he and his team aren’t looking at the fight as if the opponent will be any different than the last time Jung was in action – back in mid-2013.

After losing to Aldo, Jung eventually had to do a two-year stint in the military in his native South Korea.

“Our strategy was we just looked at his most recent fights, and we’re just getting prepared for him to have not skipped a beat,” Bermudez said. “We’re ready for the best ‘Korean Zombie.’ We want to fight the best ‘Korean Zombie.’

“In my head, I think he’s probably a top-five guy. He was in the top five when he left for military leave. So I think a win over him probably moves me up the ranks a little bit, and I don’t think about losing.”

For more on UFC Fight Night 104, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.