Korean Zombie favorite to win in UFC Busan headliner
The UFC heads to Busan, South Korea this weekend with UFC on ESPN+ 23. The main event saw a change come just weeks ago as originally scheduled headliner Brian Ortega was forced to withdraw from his featherweight contest against “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung due to injury. In his place enters former UFC lightweight champion and featherweight title contender, Frankie “The Answer” Edgar.
According to sports betting sites on Amazing.bet, Korean Zombie is the favorite to win the contest. Edgar and Korean Zombie were originally scheduled to fight in November 2018, but the fight was canceled after Edgar sustained a bicep injury. Yair Rodriguez stepped up to the plate for that contest and knocked Jung out with one of the most spectacular elbows you will see in combat sports.
Chan Sung Jung bounced back from defeat to take out surging up and comer Renato Moicano in the very first round with strikes.
Edgar took this fight on short notice, following a decision loss to now former featherweight champ Max Holloway. Edgar was set to move down to bantamweight to take on Cory Sandhagen at UFC on ESPN+24 in January. That fight could still happen, although UFC officials are waiting to see what happens here with Edgar vs. Zombie before making that decision.
In the co-main event spot, former light heavyweight title contender Volkan Oezdemir hopes to make it two wins in a row as he takes on hard hitting Aleksandar Rakić. Oezdemir saw a rough patch in 2018 and early in 2019, losing three straight bouts to Daniel Cormier, Anthony Smith, and Dominick Reyes.
Rakić is undefeated in the UFC, entering the contest on a four fight win streak with the promotion, 12 straight overall. His last loss came in his professional debut more than eight years ago in 2011.
UFC on ESPN+ 23 Fight Card
Chan Sung Jung vs. Frankie Edgar – 145 lbs
Volkan Oezdemir vs. Aleksandar Rakić – 205 lbs
Doo Ho Choi vs. Charles Jourdain – 145 lbs
Da Un Jung vs. Mike Rodriguez – 205 lbs
Jun Yong Park vs. Marc-Andre Barriault – 185 lbs
Kyung Ho Kang vs. Pingyuan Liu – 135 lbs
Ciryl Gane vs. Tanner Boser – 265 lbs
Suman Mokhtarian vs. Seung Woo Choi – 145 lbs
Omar Morales vs. Dong Hyun Ma – 155 lbs
Alexandre Pantoja vs. Matt Schnell – 125 lbs
Said Nurmagomedov vs. Raoni Barcelos – 135 lbs
Amanda Lemos vs. Miranda Granger – 125 lbs
Heili Alateng vs. Ryan Benoit – 135 lbs
The event takes place at the Sajik Arena on Saturday with a very early start time of 5 a.m. on the east coast. The entire event will be broadcast on ESPN+.
