The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) continues on Fight Island. UFC Fight Island 6 takes place in Abu Dhabi and will be wired live on ESPN+ at 7 pm EST.
Brian Ortega versus Chan Sung Jung (Korean Zombie) is the main event of UFC Fight Night 186; this highly anticipated match had to be canceled and rescheduled due to injuries to both opponents, but now it seems like it’s finally here.
Ortega is aiming to recover from his first UFC defeat in December 2018 against Max Holloway. Ortega is a renowned fighter with a lot of knockout wins against top UFC Featherweight fighters. A notable victory was his first-round knockout against Frankie Edgar, which made him the Featherweight title challenger against Max Holloway.
Korean Zombie has earned a reputation as a fierce fighter in the Featherweight division, and he is currently 3-1 in his previous four fights. The loss came from an elbow strike in the last moments of the fifth round fight against Yair Rodriquez.
Korean Zombie resurrected from that loss and earned two first-round knockout victories against Frankie Edgar and Renato Moicano. The winner of this matchup between Ortega and the Korean Zombie is guaranteed the title shot at the Featherweight belt. The stakes are even higher as this match has a personal undertone; at UFC 248, Ortega assaulted a close friend of Korean Zombie, who was translating his trash talk. The personal animosity between these two fighters increases the intrigue of this match.
Preview
Ortega enters this match after suffering his first career loss in December 2018. He has not fought since that match, where Max Holloway dominated him. He also suffered from a series of injuries that kept him on the sidelines, most recently an Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) tear.
In MMA, Ortega is 14-1, and he is 6-1 in the UFC. His takedown rate is 0.51 per 15 minutes, and he brandishes a takedown accuracy of 16%. Ortega averages 4.07 strikes per minute, with a striking accuracy of 33%. He absorbs an average of 7.30 strikes.
Korean Zombie has a 16-5 record in the MMA and a 6-2 record in the UFC. His most recent fight was in December 2019 against Frankie Edgar, where he won by TKO. Korean Zombie is primarily a striker with an average of 4.58 strikes per 15 minutes. He features a takedown accuracy of 41% with an average of 0.78 takedowns per minute. His takedown defense is quite impressive, at 77%.
Stats
Fighter | Ortega | Korean Zombie
Age | 29 | 33
Height | 5’8″ | 5’7″
Reach | 69″ | 72″
Finishes | 6 | 6
Recent Fights
Ortega | Vs | Korean Zombie
Loss by TKO | 1 | Win by TKO
Win by KO | 2 | Win by TKO
Win by submission | 3 | Loss by KO
Win by submission | 4 | Win by KO
Odds
Ortega +160
Korean Zombie -200
Odds from Bovada
Pick: Korean Zombie
Ortega Vs. Korean Zombie Prediction
Brian Ortega is currently ranked #4 in the UFC Featherweight division, even though he has not fought in approximately two years. After his debut, which was ruled as a no-contest due to a failed drug test, Ortega had dominated all his opponents until the UFC 231 Featherweight title match against Max Holloway. Ortega lost the title fight and was dominated until a fourth-round TKO stoppage.
Korean Zombie has gained popularity in the UFC for his entertaining fighting style and earned numerous post-fight bonuses for his performances. Although he lost his title shot at UFC 103, since returning from military service in Korea, he has been unstoppable.
Ortega has a 1-inch height advantage, but Korean Zombie has a 3inch reach advantage. Korean Zombie also takes a striking advantage over Ortega. Ortega’s takedown rate is 16%, and Korean Zombie’s takedown defense is 77%. Korean Zombie will seek to use his reach advantage to pick apart Ortega piece by piece in a similar fashion to Ortega’s title fight against Max Holloway, where Ortega struggled to really get into the fight.
Other factors playing into this fight include the extended period on the sidelines from Ortega since his fourth-round TKO loss to Max Holloway. During this period, Korean Zombie has been actively destroying opponents quickly in the Featherweight division.
Korean Zombie will be determined to prevent grappling attempts from Ortega and try to win this one by striking
Prediction: Korean Zombie wins by KO in the third or fourth round.
