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UFC Vegas 29: Korean Zombie vs. Ige Odds, Schedule, Predictions

Alex Ballentine

A fun featherweight main event between the Korean Zombie Chan Sung Jung and Dan Ige highlights the latest UFC Vegas event from the APEX Facility. 

The Korean Zombie will be making his first appearance in 2021. The 29-year-old is no stranger to exciting fights and is coming off a vicious knockout in just 22 seconds. 

The card also features an intriguing matchup in the heavyweight division. Rising prospect Serghei Spivac will face a tough test in veteran Aleksei Oleinik. 

Marlon "Chito" Vera is also set to make an appearance on a six-fight main card. Here's a look at the complete schedule along with the latest odds and a closer look at the biggest fights of the night. 

Fight Card, Schedule and Odds—June 19

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Main card (ESPN2/ESPN+ at 7 p.m. ET)

Prelims (ESPN2/ESPN+ at 4 p.m. ET)

Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook

Jung vs. Ige

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The Korean Zombie has spent the majority of his career teetering between exciting action fighter and title contender. He's only earned a crack at the title once—a fourth-round TKO loss to Jose Aldo in 2013—before his mandatory military service took him out of the cage for nearly three years. 

Since his return, he's earned wins over Dennis Bermudez, Renato Moicano and Frankie Edgar while picking up losses to Yair Rodriguez and Brian Ortega. 

In other words, he's probably on the precipice of title contention once again. But at 34 years old, the clock is ticking. His loss to Brian Ortega was his most recent appearance. Back-to-back losses at this stage would be tough to overcome. 

Ige has not been able to reach the heights of his opponent. He holds split-decision wins over Mirsad Bektic and Edson Barboza, but he couldn't capitalize on a fight against a highly ranked opponent in Calvin Kattar. 

This fight is his chance to make up for that botched opportunity. Jung's exciting style comes with consequences. He's not exactly a defensive wizard, and Ige has looked impressive against better strikers, such as Barboza. 

This could be the breakout performance Ige needs to get even bigger fights. 

Prediction: Ige via decision

Oleinik vs. Spivac

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The heavyweight co-main event is a perfect example of a rising contender getting a chance to show his growth. The 26-year-old Spivac is trending towards taking his next step, but he still needs to prove some things. 

The Polar Bear has looked strong in each of his last two outings, but his loss to Marcin Tybura in February 2020 showed some holes in his game. Tybura was able to hand Spivac his second career loss after largely utilizing his grappling to seize control for the majority of the fight. 

Going against a veteran whose nickname is the Boa Constrictor is about as good a test as any that he has improved in his ability to combat that gameplan. 

That doesn't take into consideration what Oleinik is at this point in his career, though. He owns 40 submission wins throughout his career, but he's 2-4 in his last six fights and has lost the last two by knockout. 

As long as Spivac's takedown defense is solid, he'll probably keep this on the feet long enough to extend Oleinik's knockout-loss streak. 

Prediction: Spivac via second-round TKO

Vera vs. Grant

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The competition for Fight of the Night is going to be fierce. The bantamweight bout between Marlon Vera and Davey Grant should be among the leading contenders. 

Grant is coming off back-to-back Performance of the Night awards in which he knocked out his opponent. Chito is a volume striker who loves to push the pace and gets stronger as a fight goes on. 

It's a recipe for war, and these two should have familiarity with each other. Grant utilized his grappling and controlled the fight en route to a fairly convincing decision win. 

With Grant coming out of nowhere to get knockouts in his last two fights, the assumption might be that he'll engage in more striking in this spot. That's not necessarily the case, though. 

Knowing that Grant was able to upset Vera once by using his grappling, it wouldn't be surprising to see him go to that well again. The fact he seems to have added some power to his repertoire only adds to his ways of winning the fight. 

Prediction: Grant via decision

     

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