UFC remains in the United Arab Emirates for another week as the Flash Forum on Yas Island, in Abu Dhabi, will host UFC Fight Night 180 in the early morning hours of Sunday, October 18, so that prime time viewers in North America can watch the card on Saturday night. The main event is a featherweight bout between Brian Ortega and Chan Sung Jung, known as “The Korean Zombie.” The co-main event pits Katlyn Chookagian against Jessica Andrade in a women’s flyweight tilt.
Let’s take a look at the full card as well as some UFC betting suggestions for the top fights.
UFC Fight Night 180: Ortega vs Jung (October 18)
Brian Ortega (14-1, +155) vs Chan Sung Jung
(16-5, -175) is Jung’s latest fight since coming back to the promotion from military service. He came back with a vengeance, demolishing Dennis Bermudez in quick fashion, but then a knee injury forced him out of action. He was dominating Yair Rodriguez until the last second of their fight when he came back, but then an elbow from Rodriguez knocked out Jung in that last tick of the clock. In 2019, he won headliners against Renato Carneiro and Frankie Edgar, finishing both fights quickly and decisively. If he can beat Ortega, he will have earned a title shot.
Ortega makes his first entry into the Octagon in almost two years. He remains one of the great submission fighters in MMA. At one point, he had won four fights in a row via finishes in the third round, despite the fact that he was trailing on the cards in all of those fights. Ortega’s method is to keep pushing forward until his opponent makes a mistake, and then Ortega can either capitalize by delivering a knockout or a choke hold. Ortega differs from other pressure specialists in that he does not try to overwhelm his opponents with volume or read the defense of his opponents. Instead, he just keeps delivering until something clicks, and then his finishes are effective. The weakness of this approach emerged in his title fight against Max Holloway in his last fight. Holloway was too quick to fall prey to Ortega’s style, and Holloway’s technical skill ended up embarrassing Ortega as the fight wore on.
Both of these fighters excel on the floor, which could mean that this fight stays upright and turns into a striking match. Ortega ate a lot of bombs against Holloway in the striking game. It will be interesting to see if either fighter can maintain enough defense to win. Jung has the speed advantage, but Ortega brings more power. Jung can bring more energy quickly, but Ortega is more durable.
Xbet’s Final Prediction:
Jung wins via knockout | Bet on the Match Now!
Jessica Andrade (20-8, -135) vs Katlyn Chookagian
(14-3, +115) is Andrade’s debut in the flyweight division. Andrade has historically ridden her physicality to wins, but her flaws were easier for her opponents to exploit as a bantamweight. So she dropped down to 115 pounds and earned a title shot after three straight wins. Andrade’s blitzing style proved easy for Joanna Jedrzejczyk to pick apart, though, and Andrade was beaten. She ran off three more wins in a row after that, knocking out Karolina Kowalkiewicz in vivid fashion. She got another title fight, against Rose Namajunas. She claimed the title by dropping Namajunas on her head in the second round. After that, though, she lost her title to Weili Zhang in just 42 seconds and then lost her rematch against Namajunas on the cards, so moving up to 125 pounds might be her shortest path to another title fight.
Chookagian uses kickboxing to neutralize her opponents and hope to pick up more points than her opponent. That helped her beat Jennifer Maia, but then she took a beating from Valentina Shevchenko. She developed her wrestling game before fighting Antonina Shevchenko and winning. It’s a fight against a straight-ahead pressure artist in Andrade, and a defensive point-gatherer in Chookagian. Andrade should either win on the cards or deliver a finish.
Xbet’s Final Prediction:
Andrade wins via decision | Bet on the Match Now!
UFC | Main Card
Brian Ortega vs Chan Sung Jung
(Featherweight)
Katlyn Chookagian vs Jessica Andrade
(Women’s Flyweight)
Jimmy Crute vs Modestas Bukauskas
(Light Heavyweight)
Claudio Silva vs James Krause
(Welterweight)
Thomas Almeida vs Jonathan Martinez
(Featherweight)
UFC | Preliminary Card
Mateusz Gamrot vs Guram Kutateladze
(Lightweight)
Gillian Robertson vs Poliana Botelho
(Women’s Flyweight)
John Phillips vs Jun Yong Park
(Middleweight)
Jamie Mullarkey vs Fares Ziam
(Lightweight)
Gadzhimurad Antigulov vs Maxim Grishin
(Light Heavyweight)
Mark Striegl vs Said Nurmagomedov
(Bantamweight)
UFC | Fight Odds
UFC Betting Odds
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