UFC Fight Night 179 - Moraes vs. Sandhagen --- UFC 254 - Khabib vs. Gaethje
UFC Fight Night 180: Ortega vs. The Korean Zombie (also known as UFC Fight Island 6) is an upcoming mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that will take place on October 18, 2020 at the Flash Forum on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Fight card
Main card (ESPN+)
Featherweight Brian Ortega vs. Chan Sung Jung
Women’s Flyweight Katlyn Chookagian vs. Jéssica Andrade
Light Heavyweight Jimmy Crute vs. Modestas Bukauskas
Welterweight Cláudio Silva vs. James Krause
Featherweight Thomas Almeida vs. Jonathan Martinez
Preliminary Card (ESPN+)
Lightweight Mateusz Gamrot vs. Guram Kutateladze
Women's Flyweight Gillian Robertson vs. Poliana Botelho
Middleweight John Phillips vs. Jun Yong Park
Lightweight Jamie Mullarkey vs. Fares Ziam
Light Heavyweight Gadzhimurad Antigulov vs. Maxim Grishin
Bantamweight Mark Striegl vs. Said Nurmagomedov
Background
Without fans in attendance, the promotion does not have to worry about the local timing of the event, so the plan is to proceed with normal timing for prime time hours on the east coast of North America. The main card is scheduled to begin at 3:00 am (October 18) local time in Abu Dhabi, with a full preliminary card beginning at approximately 12:00 am Gulf Standard Time.
A featherweight bout between former UFC Featherweight Championship challengers Brian Ortega and Chan Sung Jung has been slated to serve as the event headliner. The duo was previously scheduled to main event UFC Fight Night: Edgar vs. The Korean Zombie in December 2019. However, Ortega pulled out of the fight with a knee injury and was replaced by former UFC Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar.
A women's flyweight bout between former UFC Women's Strawweight Champion Jéssica Andrade and former flyweight title challenger Jessica Eye was briefly linked to the event. However, the pairing never materialized due to lingering injuries for Eye. Andrade is now expected to face another former flyweight title challenger in Katlyn Chookagian.
A heavyweight bout between Ciryl Gane and Shamil Abdurakhimov was expected to take place at this event. The pairing was originally scheduled for UFC 249, but Gane was forced to pull out of the event after he suffered a pneumothorax in training. Subsequently, the pairing was rescheduled and cancelled on three other occasions for various reasons. First at UFC 251, then briefly for UFC 253 and UFC Fight Night: Covington vs. Woodley. The bout fell through once again as Abdurakhimov pulled out due to undisclosed reasons on September 28. Gane was then expected to face promotional newcomer Ante Delija. However on October 14, the bout was cancelled due to contractual issues with Delija, seemingly related to his previous deal with the PFL.
A lightweight bout between Renato Moicano and Magomed Mustafaev was scheduled for the event. However, Moicano pulled out of the fight on September 15 due to personal reasons. He was replaced by former KSW Featherweight and Lightweight Champion Mateusz Gamrot. In turn, Mustafaev pulled out in early October due to undisclosed reasons. Gamrot is now expected to face Guram Kutateladze.
A light heavyweight bout between former UFC Light Heavyweight Championship challenger Volkan Oezdemir and Nikita Krylov was briefly linked to the event. However, Oezdemir pulled out of the fight in early October citing a knee injury. A replacement could not be found and Krylov was removed from the card.
Muslim Salikhov was expected to face Cláudio Silva in a welterweight bout at the event. However on October 4, it was announced that Salikhov pulled out due to undisclosed reasons and was replaced by James Krause
A middleweight bout between Krzysztof Jotko and Makhmud Muradov was briefly scheduled to take place at this event, before being moved two weeks later to UFC Fight Night: Hall vs. Silva.
Mounir Lazzez was expected to face David Zawada in a welterweight bout at the event. However on October 6, it was reported that Lazzez tested positive for COVID-19 and the bout was scrapped.
Nov 16 - Updated fight card
