ASIAN MMA STAR CHAN SLAMS ‘SHOCKING’ LAS VEGAS BRAWL

THOUGH the Los Angeles Dodgers didn’t play well Monday night when they bowed to the Milwaukee Brewers via a shutout in the National League Championship Series, 4-0. It was a different story 20 years ago on October 15,1988.

That’s when Kirk Gibson delivered a walk-off home run in the World Series, even though he could barely walk. When Vin Scully gave the call: “In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened!” And when Times photographer Joe Kennedy took the shot that would become a poster.

It was the day Gibson celebrated as he rounded the bases after his two-run pinchhit homer off Oakland reliever Dennis Eckersley, giving the Dodgers a stunning 5-4 victory over the A’s in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series.

The Dodgers trailed the A’s, 4-3, in the bottom of the ninth when the sore-kneed Gibson hit it out of the park and then made his memorable gimpy jaunt around the bases.

The homer didn’t just win that game, recalled former Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda in a 2008 LosAngelesTimesstory, “it paralyzed the A’s, and we went SEOUL: Asia’s highest-ranked mixed martial artist said fighters must remember they’re idols for children as he slammed last week’s “shocking” scenes after Conor McGregor’s defeat to Khabib Nurmagomedov. Chan “The Korean Zombie”

- lence, when Nurmagomedov and his team attacked McGregor and his entourage in images beamed around the world, had set back attempts to clean up MMA’s image.

“We should be inspiring kids and not shocking them,” the Seoul- based featherweight said ahead of this week’s Angel’s Fighting MMA event in Seoul, where all

and one messenger covering the game,” Kennedy said. “Each of us decided from where to shoot. I chose left field. We were just honored to be picked [by L.A. Times editors] to shoot the game.”

When Gibson hit the homer and limped around the bases, “the images looked good in the

Once back at the Times building,

been processed yet, so he developed it. Prints were made and turned in.

“I had no idea how it would get used,” Kennedy said. “The next day, the one picture was on A-1 and another on Sports cover. That’s when I knew it was something special. The lab staff made a very large print and hung it outside the photo department. It was gone the next day.”

“The paper had so many requests for the image, a poster was made and thousands of copies sold,” Kennedy said.

Note: Kennedy worked at the LosAngelesTimes for 40 years, retiring in 2000. UFC in his weight division.

- standable but violence outside the cage is a no-go. We are adults and should remember the impact what we do has on kids.”

Chan was speaking at his Korean Zombie Gym in Seoul as he pre-

Chan Sung-jung of South Korea (left) throws a left lead punch against Dennis Bermudez of the US in their featherweight bout during a UFC Fight Night event in Houston, Texas on February 4, 2017.

“Fighters are emerging from all over Asia, and from South Korea,” said Chan. “The image of the sport has improved and it is up to us as martial artists to

make sure this continues.”

A ‘positive’ force

Chan’s “Zombie” tag comes from his ability to keep moving forward into battle, even when under a barrage, and he is level-headed about the challenge posed by Edgar.

“I know he will try to wear me down, try to exhaust me, but I am ready for that,” said Chan. “My stamina is very good.”

Chan seemed destined for the top after joining the UFC in 2011, after starring on the domestic scene in South Korea.

He went 3-0 before losing to then-featherweight champion Jose “Scarface” Aldo, dislocating his shoulder throwing a huge right before losing via TKO in the fourth.

Following South Korea’s compulsory military service and a knee injury, Chan exploded back

Now with a career record of 14 wins and four losses, Chan will be faced with his biggest challenge yet against Edgar (23-6-1), the 36-year-old former UFC lightweight champion.

But Chan said his time away from the cage — which also brought the birth of three children, aged four to three months — had put life into perspective.

At the Angel’s Fighting event, Chan was in the corner for a