UFC Fight Island 6 Predictions – Brian Ortega vs. Chan Sung Jung ‘The Korean Zombie’

Fight Island 6 will see the long awaited return of former featherweight title contender Brian Ortega as he takes on Chan Sung Jung in a matchup that’s been much anticipated. Ortega will be returning after nearly 2 years, after suffering the first defeat of his career to Max Holloway in his first title fight since being with the organisation. ‘The Korean Zombie’ will welcome him back in a matchup that’s been long awaited, initially being cancelled due to Ortega needing surgery and then delayed due to the impact that COVID-19 has had on the UFC’s yearly schedule. Jung will be looking to secure a title shot after his re-emergence to contender status – recently securing first round finishes of Renato Moicano and Frankie Edgar.

After nearly two years out, many fans may have forgotten about Brian Ortega’s relevance in the featherweight division. Before suffering the first loss of his career against an unbelievable Max Holloway, Ortega made a name for himself from numerous finishes against ranked fighters. Ortega’s ability to finish a fight has been one of his best attributes in his UFC tenure, finishing a number of fights after trailing in the fight on the judges scorecards. Ortega possesses as dangerous a choke game as anybody in the UFC, with 7 career submissions and is particularly dangerous off of his back or from the front headlock position. Training under Rener Gracie, Ortega’s BJJ is truly his bread and butter, but he doesn’t possess the wrestling ability to actively get the fight to the mat and rather attempts to pull guard or snap the neck down during clinch transitions. He’s especially had success from snapping the head down and threatening from the front headlock position in his UFC career (shown best vs. Cub Swanson), with no fighter as of yet managing to have successful spells by spending time in his guard or from initiating grappling themselves.

On the other hand, Chan Sung Jung is an especially underrated grappler himself, but like Ortega he doesn’t necessarily look to get the fight to the mat as his primary goal. With 8 career submissions himself and one of the only twister finishes in the UFC history, ‘The Korean Zombie’ is also a submission threat. However, in contrast to Ortega’s submission game, Zombie looks to prioritise securing position over submission to ensure he is often in the dominant position on the mat, only threatening subs mostly from back or top control.

Even though both fighters are especially good grapplers in their own right, it’s hard to see most of this fight not playing out on the feet. Brian Ortega’s striking has developed a lot over his UFC career, now showing good offensive boxing and consistently throwing a lot of volume. Rarely taking a backwards step, Ortega looks to put constant pressure on his opponent, often to maybe force a shot out of them from where he can threaten the neck of his opponent. In addition, Ortega generally pushes a fast pace in his fights and has the cardio to back it up, finishing a number of his fights in the 3rd round. However, his tendency to walk forward whilst constantly applying pressure to his opponent does tend to expose the glaring weakness in his game – his striking defence. Ortega lacks head movement and that combined with his forward pressure tends to leave him vulnerable to straight punches. Whilst his inability to feint exposes him to being fairly easy to counter. His striking metrics are extremely concerning on the surface (7.36 SApM), but it does have to be considered that they’re skewed due to Max Holloway landing an obscene amount of strikes on him over the course of 4 rounds in his last bout, which was brutal to say the least.

In contrast to Ortega’s striking style, Jung is still a pressure fighter but also specialises in countering. A fantastic boxer who reads his opponents offence extremely well, ‘The Korean Zombie’ is at his most dangerous when he’s faced with consistent offence to which he can counter with the right cross or string together boxing combinations. ‘Zombie’s’ offence when he’s forced to lead a fight is extremely reliant on his jab, from which he can set up most of his combinations whilst also enabling him to disguise the low kick. In addition, ‘Zombie’ is also an established fighter in the clinch, often using the single collar tie to gain control of his opponent’s head whilst looking to land uppercuts in close range. This is something I expect we’ll see less of in this matchup however due to Ortega’s ability to threaten the head snap from clinch positions.

Both fighters’ styles and the animosity between them promises for an exciting matchup at Fight Island 6. Neither fighter is going to want to take a step back and both provide threats in their own way. Ortega is likely going to want to force his way in to close range whilst also doing what he can to threaten in boxing range. Whilst ‘Zombie’ has recently become more of a sniper, looking to counter Ortega’s offence and force a finish or win rounds through landing the more meaningful damage. I feel Ortega is being counted out due to the performance of Max Holloway in his last outing, however his ability to show consistent volume, whilst also possessing good cardio and durability could make this closer than most people think. It’s also possible that Ortega’s striking and defence could have improved in the past two years that we haven’t seen him. However, it’s impossible to make assumptions based on things we haven’t yet seen, and ‘Zombie’ is probably the hardest hitter that Ortega’s fought in his UFC career. For that reason, I’ll side with Chan Sung Jung to land the more meaningful shots, countering Ortega as he enters the pocket on his way to earning a late finish or unanimous decision victory, solidifying himself as featherweight’s #1 contender.

Prediction:
Chan Sung Jung via TKO round 4
(Please note: This prediction is not associated with the MMAPlay365 handicapper, packages, subscriptions, services or hub)