Brian Ortega stakes claim top featherweight contender with win over The Korean Zombie
After sitting on a devastating UFC featherweight championship defeat to Max Holloway for almost two years, Brian Ortega looked better than ever as he dominated rival Chan Sung Jung – “The Korean Zombie” – over five rounds in Abu Dhabi.
Ortega expertly kept Jung guessing throughout the contest’s 25 minutes, feinting his shots behind showing off an improved arsenal of strikes and threatening the takedown to work his top-level ground game.
In the second round, Ortega floored The Korean Zombie with a spinning back elbow which proved to be the most telling strike of the whole fight after already knocking him down with a left hook in the first.
The movement from “T-City” proved problematic for the Korean. Ortega was never really in any danger against the respect striker and landed the more damaging shots throughout.
In the latter rounds, Ortega’s jab played a bigger role as he successfully kept Jung at bay to secure the unanimous decision.
UFC President Dana White said before the fight that the victor would most likely be UFC featherweight champion Alex Volkanovski’s next challenger. It looks like Ortega will be the man to contend for the title a second time.
Jessica Andrade ends Katlyn Chookagian in flyweight debut
Former UFC women’s strawweight champion Jessica Andrade marked her debut at flyweight with a stoppage victory over former title challenger Katlyn Chookagian.
The Brazilian was much the smaller competitor in the Octagon but that didn’t matter as she continually marched Chookagian down to either land punches in the pocket in her trademark style or clinch to secure a takedown.
However, it was the former technique which brought Andrade her first success at 125 pounds.
With little time remaining in the first round, Andrade landed a hook to the body as the pair threw shots while breaking from their clinch position. “Blonde Fighter” was visibly in pain as she clutched at her midsection and turn away from Andrade.
Andrade smelled blood and hunted for the finish and got it when she landed another body blow to fold Chookagian in half.
With just seconds remaining of the opening round, referee Lukasz Bosacki called a stop to the contest to award Andrade a victory on her flyweight debut. Could she soon be challenging for a championship in a second weight class?
UFC Fight Night: Ortega vs. Jung full results
Featherweight: Brian Ortega def. Chan Sung Jung by unanimous decision after five rounds
Women’s Flyweight: Jéssica Andrade def. Katlyn Chookagian by TKO (body punches) at 4:57 of round one
Light Heavyweight: Jimmy Crute def. Modestas Bukauskas by KO (punches) at 2:01 of round one
Welterweight: James Krause def. Cláudio Silva by unanimous decision after three rounds
Featherweight: Jonathan Martinez def. Thomas Almeida by unanimous decision after three rounds
Lightweight: Guram Kutateladze def. Mateusz Gamrot by split decision after three rounds
Women’s Flyweight: Gillian Robertson def. Poliana Botelho by unanimous decision after three rounds
Middleweight: Jun Yong Park def. John Phillips by unanimous decision after three rounds
Lightweight: Fares Ziam def. Jamie Mullarkey by unanimous decision after three rounds
Light Heavyweight: Maxim Grishin def. Gadzhimurad Antigulov by TKO (punches) at 4:58 of round two
Bantamweight: Said Nurmagomedov def. Mark Striegl by KO (punches) at 0:51 of round one