The UFC debuts in South Carolina on Saturday night when it hosts UFC on ESPN+ 12 in Greenville.
We’re not going to pretend like this is the deepest card in UFC history, as it’s essentially just another weekend card on a day that also features a marquee Bellator event in London and a Bare Knuckle FC pay-per-view.
But that’s not to say there’s no intrigue heading into UFC Greenville, which is headlined by one of the more popular all-action fighters of recent years in “The Korean Zombie,” Chan Sung Jung, who meets Renato Moicano in a featherweight matchup. And there are several other fights with noteworthy names, from Bryan Barberena to Montana De La Rosa to Kevin Holland.
UFC on ESPN+ 12 takes place at Bon Secours Wellness Arena and streams on ESPN+. Here are five burning questions heading into the card:
How much does ‘The Korean Zombie’ have left to give?
The show-stealing WEC 48 brawl with Leonard Garcia. The first and only twister submission in UFC history in their rematch a year later. The seven-second knockout of Mark Hominick. The 2012 “Fight of the Year”-caliber victory over Dustin Poirier. The 24-minute, 59-second thriller with Yair Rodridguez at altitude last year at UFC Denver.
Jung (14-5 MMA, 4-2 UFC) has a well earned reputation as one of MMA’s most exciting competitors. But somewhere along the way, fighters like “TKZ” have a fight in which you can pinpoint a “before” and “after.” Was Jung’s last-second knockout loss to Rodriguez that moment, or does he still have plenty to give?
We should get an idea going up against Moicano (13-2-1 MMA, 5-2 UFC), who will be determined to rectify matters coming off a loss to Jose Aldo in his most high-profile fight at UFC Fotraleza. Wins over the likes of Cub Swanson and Jeremy Stephens prove Moicano can handle himself against high volume strikers, so he presents as clear a test as Jung can find.
Will the real Bryan Barberena please stand up?
Barberena (14-6 MMA, 5-4 UFC) has been tough to figure out. The MMA Lab competitor first gained public consciousness by derailing the Sage Northcutt hype train just as it was starting to gain steam in 2016.
Since then, it’s been a one-step-back, one-step-forward pattern for the indisputably tough welterweight, who has traded wins and losses in each of his past six fights. Killer performances against the likes of Joe Proctor and Jake Ellenberger have been mixed with duds against Colby Covington and Leon Edwards.
Barberena is coming off one of his most memorable performances in a loss, as he was TKO’d by Vicente Luque at UFC on ESPN 1 in a contender for “Fight of the Year.” Is Barberena destined to be just one of those guys who has the potential for exciting fights win or lose, or can he go on a real run? A fight with Randy Brown (10-3 MMA, 4-3 UFC) seems tailor-made to get him back into the win column.
Will a new women’s flyweight contender emerge?
The women’s flyweight division isn’t exactly the company’s deepest, which is compounded by the fact the champion, Valentina Shevchenko, seems to have all the makings of a long-term, dominant titleholder.
After her devastating knockout of Jessica Eye at UFC 238, the only real sellable title defense Shevchenko seems to have is Liz Carmouche, who is the only fighter to ever finish the champ in an MMA bout. The UFC clearly agrees, as Carmouche is next in line.
But the door is wide open for a potential new contender beyond Carmouche to emerge, which puts the spotlight on the main-card fight between De la Rosa (10-4 MMA, 3-0 UFC) and Andrea Lee. De La Rosa is 3-0 in official UFC contests, with all three wins coming by way of submission, which is how she’s secured eight of her 10 career victories. De La Rosa has won four in a row overall.
Lee (10-2 MMA, 2-0 UFC), for her part, tore it up in Invicta and LFA before joining the UFC last year, winning both of her UFC fights and six in a row overall. A decisive win for either fighter here puts them in the conversation for a shot at “Bullet.”
Is ‘Big Mouth’ the real deal?
Holland had one of the most memorable losing debuts in recent history last summer at UFC 227. Holland (15-4 MMA, 2-1 UFC) took everything Thiago Santos could dish out that night in Los Angeles, kept laughing and yapping all the way, and went the distance. Santos, who couldn’t finish Holland, went up to light heavyweight after the bout, where he’s been knocking people out left and right.
UFC president Dana White labeled Holland “Big Mouth” and praised his work ethic. Both ideas have stuck. Holland has won two fights since that date, showing off a well-rounded offense in victories over Oluwale Bamgbose and Julian Marquez. He recently signed a new four-fight contract, and returns to action against Italy’s Alessio Di Chirico (12-2 MMA, 3-2 UFC), who’s also won his past two fights. “Big Mouth” has a way with words, but an impressive win over another fighter with big aspirations would carry just as much weight as anything which can come out of his mouth.
For more on UFC on ESPN+ 12, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.
