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USA Today Sports Media Group

Sport

Matt Erickson

UFC Fight Night 225: How to watch Holloway vs. Korean Zombie, start time, fight card, odds, more

UFC Chan Sung Jung Max Holloway UFC Fight Night 225 Anthony Smith Billy Goff UFC Fight Night Ryan Spann USA TODAY Sports Alexander Volkanovski

Here’s what you need to know to watch UFC Fight Night 225 on ESPN+.

The UFC is back in Asia on Saturday for UFC Fight Night 225 in Singapore.

Here’s how to watch UFC Fight Night 225 with a former longtime champion at the top of the lineup.

Broadcast and streaming info

UFC Fight Night 225 has a main card that begins at 8 a.m. ET and streams on ESPN+. The prelims stream on ESPN+, as well, beginning at 5 a.m. ET, which is a 12-hour time difference from Singapore.

Main event: Max Holloway

Apr 15, 2023; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Max Holloway (red gloves) fights Arnold Allen (blue gloves) during UFC Fight Night at T-Mobile Center. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

For nearly seven years, Max Holloway (24-7 MMA, 20-7 UFC) has only fought in main events or title fights. Saturday, he gets his next headlining opportunity when he takes on “The Korean Zombie,” Chan Sung Jung. Holloway is a huge betting favorite in the fight, but in a main event in Asia, Jung likely will have plenty of fan support. It’s fascinating to think Holloway still is only 31. He’s trying to work his way back to a featherweight title shot, but he’s 3-3 in his past six fights, and all three losses have been decisions to 145-pound champion Alexander Volkanovski. In between, he’s had wins over Calvin Kattar, Yair Rodriguez and Arnold Allen.

Main event: Chan Sung Jung

Dec 21, 2019; Busan, SOUTH KOREA; Chan Sung Jung (blue gloves) before his fight against Frankie Edgar (red gloves) during UFC Fight Night at Sajik Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jasmin Frank-USA TODAY Sports

“The Korean Zombie,” Chan Sung Jung (17-7 MMA, 7-4 UFC), will return to action after a layoff of around 16 months. In April 2022, he challenged for the featherweight title, but was stopped with a TKO in the fourth round by champ Alexander Volkanovski. That title shot came nearly nine years after his first one, which was a TKO loss to Jose Aldo. He’s not the most active fighter – this will be just his eighth fight in a 10-year stretch – but he’s long been one of the most popular and entertaining with eight post-fight bonuses in 11 UFC fights.

Co-main event: Anthony Smith vs. Ryan Spann

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – SEPTEMBER 18: Anthony Smith reacts after his victory over Ryan Spann in a light heavyweight fight during the UFC Fight Night event at UFC APEX on September 18, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)

Anthony Smith (36-18 MMA, 11-8 UFC) is no stranger to the need to climb out from the hole of a skid. The former title challenger – Smith lost a decision to then-light heavyweight champ Jon Jones in 2019 – has dropped back-to-back fights to Magomed Ankalaev and, most recently, Johnny Walker in May. That was on the heels of a return to title contention with three straight stoppage wins in 10 months in 2020-2021.

One of those wins happened to come against Ryan Spann (21-8 MMA, 7-3 UFC), who was submitted by Smith in the first round of a Las Vegas main event in September 2021 – and they didn’t exactly have the friendliest fight week, either. Spann bounced back a bonus-winning submission of Ion Cutelaba, but missed weight his next time out in a knockout win over Dominick Reyes. He fought Nikita Krylov in March at a 215-pound catchweight, so his trip to the scale this week might be scrutinized.

UFC debut: Billy Goff

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – AUGUST 02: (R-L) Billy Goff punches Shimon Smotritsky of Israel in a welterweight fight during Dana White’s Contender Series season six, week two at UFC APEX on August 02, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)

More than a year after a first-round knockout win on Dana White’s Contender Series, Billy Goff (8-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC) finally will make his first UFC walk when he takes on Yusaku Kinoshita (6-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC) on the prelims. Goff, a former CES MMA middleweight champion, is at welterweight now for his promotional debut, which was supposed to happen in February until Goff pulled out. He comes into the fight with six straight wins, but this will be his first action since early August 2022. Six of his eight wins have been by knockout.