Ignacio Bahamondes vs. Zhu Rong - UFC Vegas 49 Preview

Ignacio Bahamondes will be taking on Zhu Rong in the featured fight of the prelims at UFC Vegas 49. Both of these men are extremely young in their careers and could have a bright future in the UFC if they can stay in the win column. UFC Vegas 49 will be broadcast on ESPN+ with the prelims starting at 4:00 pm ET/1:00 pm PT and the main card starting at 7:00 pm ET/4:00 pm PT.

Ignacio Bahamondes

Ignacio Bahamondes is 1-1 in his time with the UFC. He lost a split decision to John Makdessi in his UFC debut and knocked out Roosevelt Roberts via spinning wheel kick in his most recent fight. Bahamondes won his UFC contract with a knockout win over Edson Gomez on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2020. He has an overall record of 12-4 with nine of his wins being knockouts. He has never been knocked out in his professional career and has lost by submission in two of his four losses.

Bahamondes has only lost three times prior to getting into the UFC. Those three losses include guys like Preston Parsons, Matt McKeon, and Salvador Becerra. In his 16 fight professional career, Bahamondes has only fought four guys who had losing records at the time of their fights. Bahamondes will come into this fight with a six-inch height and a four-and-a-half-inch reach advantage. He is 24 years old and is starting to come right into the prime of his career.

Zhu Rong

Zhu Rong is also 1-1 in the UFC and lost his debut to Rodrigo Vargas at UFC 261. In his most recent fight, he won by TKO against Brandon Jenkins. Rong has fought three opponents that had losing records in his 23 fight professional career. Nine of his 23 opponents has less than five professional fights at the time of their fight with Rong. Rong is 12-1 in his last 13 fights only losing in his UFC debut to Vargas. The biggest wins of his professional career are against Shayilan Nuerdanbieke, Marcio Andrade, and Brandon Jenkins.

Zhu Rong has a professional record of 19-4 and has finished 17 of those wins. He has 12 knockout wins and five submission wins. Rong has never been knocked out in his professional career. Although he was submitted in three of his four losses all prior to 2019. He is 21 years old and has had 23 professional fights in six years which averages out to over three and a half fights per year. Rong has great striking and will be looking to put together a string of wins to climb the lightweight rankings in the UFC.