Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the UFC live on
your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the
ESPN app. Brian
Ortega has never looked more comfortable in a combat setting—a
frightening development for the rest of the
Ultimate Fighting Championship’s featherweight division. The former
Resurrection Fighting Alliance champion staked his claim as the
No. 1 contender at 145 pounds with a comprehensive performance
against Chan Sung
Jung, as he cruised to a unanimous decision in the
UFC Fight Night 180 headliner on Saturday at the Flash Forum in
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. All three judges scored it 50-45
for Ortega (15-1, 7-1 UFC), who bounced back from his December 2018
technical knockout loss to Max
Holloway in resounding fashion.
Jung (16-6, 6-3 UFC) was ill-prepared for all the weaponry “T-City”
brought to the table. Ortega drew out his opponent’s defenses with
feints, cracked his legs with kicks, targeted the head with lunging
left hands and threatened takedowns, either through full-on shots
or simply by tapping the South Korean action hero’s lead leg. He
also landed the single-most impactful strike of the fight when he
floored Jung with a perfectly timed spinning back elbow in the
second round. Ortega steered clear of danger with superior footwork
and lateral movement, his jab becoming more and more of a weapon as
the bout drifted into its latter stages.
Andrade Body Shot Buries Chookagian
Former women’s strawweight champion Jessica
Andrade shined in her 125-pound debut, as she folded Katlyn
Chookagian with a pair of devasting right hooks to the body in
the first round of their co-main event. Chookagian (14-4, 7-4 UFC)
ran out of rope 4:55 into Round 1.
Andrade (21-8, 12-6 UFC) overwhelmed the Mark Henry protégé with
power and pressure, bullying her way into the clinch and securing
two takedowns. Late in the first round, she buried her fist into
Chookagian’s midsection. The onetime Cage Fury Fighting
Championships titleholder winced in noticeable pain, turned her
back and retreated. Andrade gave chase and dropped the “Blonde Fighter” to her knees with
another sweeping right hook to the body. By then, referee
Lukasz Bosacki had seen enough.
The win put a stop to the first two-fight skid of Andrade’s career
and allowed “Bate Estaca” to announce her arrival as a legitimate
contender in the women’s flyweight division.
Once-Beaten Crute Waylays Bukauskas
Dana White’s Contender Series graduate Jimmy Crute
cut down former
Cage Warriors Fighting Championship titleholder Modestas
Bukauskas with punches in the first round of their featured
light heavyweight clash. Bukauskas (11-3, 1-1 UFC) bowed out 2:01
into Round 1, his run of seven consecutive victories at an end.
Crute (12-1, 4-1 UFC) softened the Lithuanian with thudding leg
kicks, probed for openings and threaded the proverbial needle. He
countered a body kick from Bukauskas with a crushing right hand and swarmed with follow-up
punches, a right uppercut and left hook sealing the deal before
referee Anders Ohlsson could arrive on the scene.
The 24-year-old Crute has rattled off back-to-back wins since he
submitted to a Peruvian necktie from Misha
Cirkunov at UFC Fight Night 158 a little more than a year
ago.
Replacement Krause Ends Henrique da Silva’s 14-Fight, 13-Year
Tear
Glory MMA frontman James
Krause turned in his seventh victory in eight outings, as he
took a unanimous decision from Claudio
Henrique da Silva in a three-round welterweight feature. A
short-notice replacement for Muslim
Salikhov, Krause (28-8, 9-4 UFC) carried all three cards with
30-27 scores.
Henrique da Silva (14-2, 5-1 UFC) entered the Octagon on a 14-fight
winning streak and tried to match precision with force and volume.
Krause routinely wobbled him with straight rights to the face,
invested in body shots and countered attempted takedowns with an
effective sprawl. Perhaps more impressively, he fought through an
apparent knee injury that resulted from an inside leg kick from
Henrique da Silva. Needing a finish, the Brazilian turned up the
heat in the third round with leg kicks and power punches, only to
see his considerable efforts fall short against the savvy
Krause.
The loss was Henrique da Silva’s first since he was disqualified in
his Nov. 10, 2007 professional debut.
Martinez Spoils Almeida Return
Factory
X prospect Jonathan
Martinez put his most significant win to date in the books, as
he captured a unanimous decision over former
Legacy Fighting Championship titleholder Thomas
Almeida in a three-round featherweight showcase. All three
cageside judges scored it the same: 30-27 for Martinez (13-3, 4-2
UFC).
In his first appearance since Jan. 20, 2018, Almeida (21-4, 5-4
UFC) struggled to match his opponent’s output and impact. Martinez
fired kicks to the body, head and legs, countered effectively with
both hands and mixed in a few of his patented high-velocity knees.
Almeida fought well in spurts—he sat down Martinez with a left hook
in the second round and staggered him with another in the third—but
ran into a fast-rising talent who not only refused to shy away from
potentially dangerous exchanges but seemed to welcome them.
Winless since 2016, the 29-year-old Almeida has lost three fights
in a row.
Continue Reading »
UFC Fight Night 180 Prelims: Dominant Robertson Stifles Botelho
