A slap at UFC 248, a Korean Zombie rivalry, six years of history — and now Brian Ortega and Jay Park are apparently cool.
Well, this is one MMA storyline we definitely did not expect to get a happy ending in 2026.
Six years after Brian Ortega famously slapped Jay Park at UFC 248, the UFC featherweight and Korean-American artist have officially buried the hatchet.
Yes. That Brian Ortega and Jay Park situation.
If you were following Korean MMA in 2020, you probably remember just how bizarre this whole thing was. What started with Jay Park translating for Chan Sung Jung somehow escalated into social media threats, an actual slap at a UFC event and eventually one of the more personal chapters of The Korean Zombie’s rivalry with Ortega.
Fast-forward six years and apparently everyone is good now.
Ortega recently met up with Park while the singer was in Los Angeles for his 2026 world tour. He posted a photo of the two together on Instagram with his arm around Park and wrote:
“Squashed it. All respect 🤝 🇰🇷 x 🇲🇽.”
Park was equally casual about it, responding that the issue had already been squashed and adding something that might surprise anyone who only remembers the slap:
He’s still an Ortega fan.
And honestly, after everything that happened, that’s a pretty funny ending.
Wait… Why Did Brian Ortega Slap Jay Park?
For anyone who missed this wonderfully chaotic period of Korean MMA history, we need to go all the way back to early 2020.
Ortega and Chan Sung Jung were in the middle of a growing rivalry after their planned fight at UFC Busan fell apart when Ortega withdrew with a knee injury.
A couple months later, Jung appeared in an interview with Ariel Helwani.
There was just one problem: The Korean Zombie wasn’t completely comfortable doing the interview in English.
Enter Jay Park.
Park was managing Jung through AOMG at the time and helped translate during the interview. At one point, Jung said Ortega had “ducked” him, and Park translated the comment into English.
Apparently, Ortega wasn’t exactly thrilled.
Ortega believed Park was doing more than simply translating and accused him of exaggerating Jung’s comments to help build drama around the fight.
Park’s position was basically: Dude, I’m just translating.
Ortega didn’t see it that way.
Things escalated online, and Ortega eventually warned Park that he would slap him if they ever met.
Most people probably assumed that was just MMA trash talk.
It was not.
And Then UFC 248 Happened
March 7, 2020.
UFC 248.
T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Jay Park was sitting in the fighters’ section with The Korean Zombie when Jung temporarily left his seat.
And who happened to be nearby?
Brian Ortega.
Ortega approached Park and reportedly asked if he was Jay Park.
Park stood up.
Slap.
Yes, Ortega actually followed through.
Security intervened, everyone was separated, and suddenly the translator had somehow become part of the fight promotion.
Park later filed a police report but said he wasn’t interested in sending Ortega to jail or trying to financially punish him. Ortega eventually apologized and acknowledged that the situation should have stayed between himself and Jung.
But by then, the moment had already become MMA history.
And Korean Zombie definitely didn’t forget about it.
Korean Zombie Eventually Got His Fight
The funny part is that all of this drama was originally supposed to be about Ortega vs. Jung.
Seven months after the slap, the two finally fought.
Ortega faced The Korean Zombie in Abu Dhabi in October 2020 and delivered one of the best performances of his career, defeating Jung by unanimous decision.
That essentially ended the sporting side of the rivalry.
The Jay Park incident, though?
That just kind of existed in MMA history.
There wasn’t some big public reconciliation. Every once in a while, someone would bring up that bizarre night when Brian Ortega slapped one of Korea’s biggest music stars because of a translation during an MMA interview.
And then everyone moved on.
Until now.
Six Years Later…
Park is currently traveling for his 2026 world tour and was in Los Angeles when Ortega apparently decided it was finally time to put the whole thing completely behind them.
No faceoff.
No security.
No Korean Zombie stuck in the middle.
Just two guys taking a picture together.
Ortega posted it.
“Squashed it. All respect.”
Park responded.
All good.
Six years of MMA beef officially over.
There is something genuinely refreshing about seeing it end this way.
Neither man needed to pretend the incident never happened. They didn’t need another round of arguments about who said what, whether something was translated correctly or who was responsible for escalating everything.
They just moved on.
Definitely Not on Our 2026 Bingo Card
MMA has a funny way of producing relationships like this.
One minute, someone is threatening to slap you because of something you translated for The Korean Zombie.
Six years later, you’re posing together for Instagram.
Life comes at you fast.
For longtime Korean MMA fans, though, the photo is a pretty great throwback to an era when The Korean Zombie was still chasing UFC gold, Jay Park somehow found himself directly involved in UFC drama, and Brian Ortega was becoming one of Jung’s biggest rivals.
That chapter is long over now.
Jung is retired.
Park is still touring the world.
Ortega is continuing his own journey in MMA.
And apparently, nobody needs to worry about leaving Jay Park alone when Brian Ortega walks into the room anymore.
All respect.
That’s probably the best possible ending to one of the strangest beefs in Korean MMA history.
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