| UFC Fight Night: Ortega vs. The Korean Zombie | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC Fight Night: Ortega vs. The Korean Zombie | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | October 18, 2020 (2020-10-18) | |||
| Venue | du Forum | |||
| City | Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates | |||
| Attendance | None (behind closed doors)[1] | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC Fight Night: Ortega vs. The Korean Zombie (also known asUFC Fight Night 180,UFC on ESPN+ 38 andUFC Fight Island 6) was amixed martial arts event produced by theUltimate Fighting Championship that took place on October 18, 2020 at thedu Forum onYas Island,Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.[2][3]
Without fans in attendance, the promotion did not have to make consideration for the local timing of the event, so the plan was to proceed with normal timing forprime time hours on theeast coast of North America. The main card was scheduled to begin at 3:00 am (October 18) local time in Abu Dhabi, with a full preliminary card beginning at approximately 12:00 amGulf Standard Time.[4]
A featherweight bout between formerUFC Featherweight Championship challengersBrian Ortega andChan Sung Jung served as the event headliner.[5] The duo were previously scheduled to main eventUFC Fight Night: Edgar vs. The Korean Zombie in December 2019.[6] However, Ortega pulled out of the fight with a knee injury and was replaced by formerUFC Lightweight ChampionFrankie Edgar.[7]
A women's flyweight bout between formerUFC Women's Strawweight ChampionJéssica Andrade and formerUFC Women's Flyweight Championship challengerJessica Eye was briefly linked to the event.[8] However, the pairing never materialized due to lingering injuries for Eye. Andrade faced another former flyweight title challenger inKatlyn Chookagian instead.[9]
A heavyweight bout betweenCiryl Gane andShamil Abdurakhimov was expected to take place at this event.[10][11] The pairing was originally scheduled forUFC 249, but Gane was forced to pull out of the event after he suffered apneumothorax in training.[12] Subsequently, the pairing was rescheduled and cancelled on three other occasions for various reasons. First atUFC 251, then briefly forUFC 253 andUFC Fight Night: Covington vs. Woodley.[13] The bout fell through once again as Abdurakhimov pulled out due to undisclosed reasons on September 28 and Gane was expected to face promotional newcomerAnte Delija.[14] However, that bout was also cancelled on October 14 due to contractual issues with Delija, seemingly related to his previous deal with thePFL.[15]
A lightweight bout betweenRenato Moicano andMagomed Mustafaev was scheduled for the event, but Moicano withdrew on September 15 for personal reasons.[16][17] He was replaced by formerKSW Featherweight andLightweight ChampionMateusz Gamrot.[18] In turn, Mustafaev pulled out in early October due to undisclosed reasons.[19][20] Gamrot faced fellow promotional newcomer Guram Kutateladze instead.[21]
A light heavyweight bout between formerUFC Light Heavyweight Championship challengerVolkan Oezdemir andNikita Krylov was briefly linked to the event. However, Oezdemir pulled out of the fight in early October citing a knee injury.[19] A replacement could not be found and Krylov was removed from the card.[22]
Muslim Salikhov was expected to faceCláudio Silva in a welterweight bout at the event. However, it was announced on October 4 that Salikhov pulled out due to undisclosed reasons and was replaced byJames Krause.[23]
A middleweight bout betweenKrzysztof Jotko andMakhmud Muradov was briefly scheduled to take place at this event, before being moved two weeks later toUFC Fight Night: Hall vs. Silva.[24]
Mounir Lazzez was expected to faceDavid Zawada in a welterweight bout at the event. However, it was reported on October 6 that Lazzeztested positive for COVID-19 and would not compete. In turn, Zawada was removed from the card.[25]
| Main card (ESPN+) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Featherweight | Brian Ortega | def. | Chan Sung Jung | Decision (unanimous) (50–45, 50–45, 50–45) | 5 | 5:00 | |
| Women’s Flyweight | Jéssica Andrade | def. | Katlyn Chookagian | TKO (body punches) | 1 | 4:57 | |
| Light Heavyweight | Jimmy Crute | def. | Modestas Bukauskas | KO (punches) | 1 | 2:01 | |
| Welterweight | James Krause | def. | Cláudio Silva | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Featherweight | Jonathan Martinez | def. | Thomas Almeida | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Preliminary card (ESPN+) | |||||||
| Lightweight | Guram Kutateladze | def. | Mateusz Gamrot | Decision (split) (29–28, 28–29, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Women's Flyweight | Gillian Robertson | def. | Poliana Botelho | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–27, 29–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Middleweight | Jun Yong Park | def. | John Phillips | Decision (unanimous) (30–25, 30–25, 30–25) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Lightweight | Farès Ziam | def. | Jamie Mullarkey | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Light Heavyweight | Maxim Grishin | def. | Gadzhimurad Antigulov | TKO (punches) | 2 | 4:58 | |
| Bantamweight | Said Nurmagomedov | def. | Mark Striegl | KO (punches) | 1 | 0:51 | |
The following fighters received $50,000 bonuses.[27]
