5 burning questions heading into UFC on ESPN+ 23

MMA Junkie’s Dave Doyle addresses the key storylines going into the UFC’s final event of 2019.

Is this Kyung Ho Kang’s make-or-break fight?

Had just one of two judges who scored his fight with Ricardo Ramos at UFC 227 seen so much as one round differently, [autotag]Kyung Ho Kang[/autotag] would be on a six-fight win streak.

Instead, Busan’s own Kang (16-8 MMA, 5-2 UFC) is 5-1 and on a two-fight winning streak. But that razor-thin margin is the difference between a fighter who is getting a big push against the best competition and one plugging away on Fight Night cards. 

Kang meets Liu Pingyuan (15-5 MMA, 2-1 UFC), who is looking to shake off a flying-knee KO loss to Jonathan Martin, in the bantamweight main-card opener. This is something of a sink-or-swim moment for the 32-year-old Kang. A loss here means he’ll be fighting these sort of matchups for the forseeable future. But a victory should mean he gets to meet a top-level name in the division once and for all. 

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