Brian Ortega & Jiu-Jitsu Coach Apologize to Jay Park, Chan Sung Jung, Following Slapping Incident

One of the storylines emerging from UFC 248 was an incident involving Brian Ortega and Chan Sung Jung’s buddy and translator, Jay Park. But, now the featherweight contender and his jiu-jitsu coach Rener Gracie have apologized to “The Korean Zombie” and the rapper.

Ortega apologizes for slapping Park

As you’ve likely heard, during Saturday’s event, Ortega reportedly approached Park while Jung wasn’t in his seat, and slapped him.

The incident was apparently connected to an online exchange Ortega had with Park a little while back, after the latter had relayed Jung accused him of ducking him. The featherweights were booked to fight in December, however, Ortega had to withdraw due to a knee injury. Ortega has accused Park of misrepresenting what Jung said and going out of his way to stir up drama. Park denies the claim.

Well, more recently Ortega shared out the comment below on Twitter:

I want to officially apologize to JPark for Saturday night, when Zombie is ready we can fight.

Gracie apologizes to “The Korean Zombie”

And how is Rener Gracie all mixed up in this? Gracie is the longtime, jiu-jitsu coach of Ortega, and following the incident, he called Park an “instigator”. That didn’t sit well with Jung, and more recently, Gracie issued this apology:

I took Brian under my wing at 13 years old, and since then he’s become of one of my best friends. He’s one of the most loyal and talented people I’ve ever met, but sometimes his emotions get the best of him. On Saturday night, his emotions got the best of him, and as his older brother, I will make sure he learns from this. Furthermore, when I made a comment on Brian’s post, it was clear that I took some of the trash talking directed at him personally, and my emotions got the best of me as well.
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The sequence of events is an unfortunate reminder that MMA is an entertainment sport, and regardless of what trash talking takes place outside of the ring, any and all fighting or physicality should only take place between the fighters and should always take place in the octagon.
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I too remember when you attended my seminar in Korea over three years ago. It was one of the highlights of my Asia tour. You were humble, respectful, and very technical. To this day, the training session I had with you remains one of my all-time favorites.
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I apologize for my comment, and I’m sorry your friend Jay Park had to experience the events that unfolded.
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Rener G.

So, it will be interesting to see if the UFC looks at rebooking Ortega – Jung. The latter has been pushing for a title shot, after he took out Ortega’s replacement at UFC Busan, Frankie Edgar. Jung is coming off eye surgery, and is targeting this summer for his next bout.