Resurfaced footage and a newly pieced-together timeline offer more context surrounding Han Seul Kim’s split from Korean Zombie MMA and ZFN.
Han Seul Kim’s move to Black Combat already marked the end of a significant chapter in his career.
But as fans continue digging through old footage and piecing together the months leading up to his departure from Korean Zombie MMA, a clearer timeline is beginning to emerge—and it suggests the separation may have been developing much earlier than it initially appeared.
Following news of Kim’s move, several older clips involving Kim, Chan Sung Jung and ZFN have resurfaced in the Korean MMA community. None of them independently explains why Kim ultimately decided to leave, but viewed alongside the timeline of his departure, they provide additional context surrounding the split.
Perhaps the most notable new detail is when Kim apparently stopped training at Korean Zombie MMA.
According to comments attributed to Jin Soo Son and revisited in the video, Kim had already left the gym by the time Son began his podcast around June 23. That would place Kim’s departure sometime around late May or June—only weeks after Kim competed against Myung Ho Bae at ZFN on May 9.
That timeline is significant.
Kim’s eventual separation may have only become obvious to the wider MMA community much later, but if the account is accurate, the physical separation between Kim and the gym had already occurred months earlier.
Old ZFN Moments Resurface
Fans have also revisited Han Seul Kim’s treatment around ZFN events.
One resurfaced moment shows Kim attending a ZFN event from what appears to be a regular upper-level seat. According to the commentary surrounding the footage, Kim had not been given a complimentary ticket and instead purchased his own admission.
That detail drew attention because of Kim’s longstanding relationship with Chan Sung Jung and his position within the team, particularly when other guests and personalities were reportedly provided VIP seating.
By itself, the ticket situation doesn’t establish that there was a problem between Kim and the organization. In hindsight, however, fans are looking at the moment differently now that Kim has officially moved on.
Another clip being revisited comes from the promotion of Kim’s fight with In Soo Hwang.
During the buildup, Kim was told that, from the promotion’s perspective, it would be preferable for Hwang to win and that if Kim was going to lose, he should at least lose impressively.
The comments were made openly as part of the promotion, but they have attracted renewed attention because of Kim’s lengthy relationship with Jung—one the video describes as stretching back more than a decade.
Looking Different in Hindsight
Other old interactions have resurfaced as well.
In one conversation, Jung jokingly described Kim as an “aching finger” before going further, characterizing him as a finger he wanted to cut off but couldn’t.
At the time, the exchange could easily have been understood as the type of harsh humor shared among longtime teammates and friends. Even the commentator revisiting the footage questions whether it simply reflected the culture and relationship between the group.
Following Kim’s departure, however, the comments have inevitably taken on a different meaning for some fans.
And that distinction is important.
There is still a difference between evidence of a falling out and old moments that simply appear more significant after a relationship has ended.
Neither Kim nor Jung has publicly established these individual incidents as reasons for Kim’s departure.
The Timeline Begins to Make More Sense
What the resurfaced material does provide is a better picture of when things may have started changing.
Kim fought at ZFN on May 9.
Approximately one week later, on May 16, his Instagram account reportedly went private. By approximately June 20–23, Son’s account suggests Kim was already out of the gym.
Then came additional public incidents over the following months, culminating in a strongly worded September social-media post that the commentator interpreted as Kim drawing a more definitive line.
Now Kim is beginning a completely different chapter with Black Combat.
His arrival has naturally prompted fans to revisit what happened during his final months alongside Korean Zombie MMA and ZFN. And while the resurfaced clips still don’t give us a definitive answer as to why the relationship ended, the emerging timeline makes one thing increasingly clear:
Han Seul Kim’s departure wasn’t something that happened overnight.
The separation appears to have been underway well before his next destination became public.
And with Kim now moving forward under the Black Combat banner, there may still be more to learn about how one of Korean MMA’s longest-running relationships ultimately reached its end.
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