New Korean MMA News and Discussion

leto1776

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Haven't had one of these in a while. A place to discuss all these related to Korean mma, mma in Korea, Korean fighters, etc.

latest news:
Korea based Road FC recently held their first ever event in China. Results: http://www.sherdog.com/events/Road-FC-27-Road-Fighting-Championship-27-48369

Their next event and the tournament semifinals haven't yet been announced

Soo Chul Kim picked up a win at Rizin 2: http://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Soo-Chul-Kim-69076

anyone have anything new to add?

Also, besides Road, are there any other promotions running out of Korea, pro or amateur?
 
Some interesting news out of Road FC, planning an "Open weight" tournament, $1m prize:

Korean article: http://sports.media.daum.net/sports/general/newsview?newsId=20160105085842116

Sherdog thread: http://forums.sherdog.com/threads/r...-in-2016-winner-gets-1-000-000-purse.3144155/

Also, seems Road FC will be exchanging fighters with Bellator, and will no longer release fighters from exclusive contracts to fight in the UFC:

http://forums.sherdog.com/threads/road-fc-to-co-promote-with-bellator-mma-in-2016.3141761/
 
The semifinals actually have been announced, just no for sure date.
Aorigele vs Hong Man Choi
Mighty Mo vs Hyun Man Myung

ROAD FC 28 (Tapology is far superior to Sherdog on recording Korean MMA because the guy running the database for the area actually gives a shit and has fixed a ton of Sherdog errors) is taking place on the 31st, so far only Middleweight champ Riki Fukuda vs Korean MMA pioneer Jung Hwan Cha has been announced.

TOP FC is the other prominent Korean promotion at the moment, they are run by Korean Top Team. They haven't announced their next event yet but have produced a lot of young talent such as Kwan Ho Kwak (BW champ), Han Bin Park, Farmon Gafarov, Sung Chan Hong, Sung Won Son, Michael Ahn, Won Jun Jang, and Yoo Jin Jung among others as well as having a number of veterans come through like Jae Young Kim (MW champ), Dong Hyun Kim 2 (was LW champ before UFC signed him), Young Gwang Choi (FW champ), Dennis Hallman, Matt Horwich, Moise Rimbon, Do Hyung Kim, and Dongi Yang. Most of their events I think should be on Daum and I know a few are on YouTube, they usually stream live for free as well.

ROAD FC also has their Into League amateur series but results are hard to track down.
 
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Thanks for your contributions, Asurah.

I hope HMC beats the crap out or Aorigele. That dude is a grade A douche.
 
With their new aggressive global strategy, do you think Road FC can become a legitimate player in the worldwide MMA landscape?

What calibre of talent do you anticipate Road will be able to attract with their upcoming million dollar openweight tournament?
 
They have the backing and is the premier promotion in one of the more prospect filled countries so I think they have as good of a shot as anyone. Personally I think ROAD is already above ONE in some regards (producing elite homegrown prospects mainly, also so far there has been no stories of bad fighter mistreatment). I just wish they would quit changing their rule set every few months and add elbows back in.

I think more than caliber of talent they will go after names for the tournament (wouldn't be shocked at all to see a HMC or that actor they are debuting appear in it). Right now the best HW and LHW's they have signed or have fought/scheduled recently for them are Hyun Man Myung, Mighty Mo, Denis Stojnic, Aorigele, Mu Bae Choi, Carlos Toyota, and Daiju Takase which has a few decent talents and a solid prospect in Myung but overall would be a very mediocre lineup for a tourney worth that much. ROAD definitely isn't afraid to go after free agents though. I'm not sure what kind of connections they have there but they bring in a lot of Brazilians so they might go after a few guys from down there.
 
Max FC has some mixed KB and MMA events and is held in Gwangju.
There used to be a small regional MMA promotion based in Goyang a couple of years ago. Cant remember the name.
Haven't really been following KMMA since Road decided to go with fights that appeal to the general audience (ie HMC, Mo v. MBC).
The talent pool in Korea is too shallow for both Top and Road to produce strong shows day in and day out. Hope KTT and Jung can work things out and co promote. Jae Young Kim v Fukuda, Kwak v YJ Lee would be fun to watch.
 
Yeah, the bottom half of ROAD cards have had way less depth since TOP started holding events regularly. TOP gets all the KTT guys, most Nova guys, and recently most of the Team MAD fighters.

It would be cool to see Kwan Ho Kwak, Yoon Jun Lee, and Soo Chul Kim under the same promotion. Farmon Gafarov would be a nice guy for ROAD to have too so Nam Jin Jo and Min Jong Song don't end up as the new Arlovski/Sylvia.

Also any word on Eun Soo Lee? I know he had that bad knee break and planned on returning at WW but I haven't heard anything about him in a long while. He was the MW champ before Fukuda (had to vacate due to the injury) and would be a solid fight for Fukuda.
 
Yeah, the bottom half of ROAD cards have had way less depth since TOP started holding events regularly. TOP gets all the KTT guys, most Nova guys, and recently most of the Team MAD fighters.

It would be cool to see Kwan Ho Kwak, Yoon Jun Lee, and Soo Chul Kim under the same promotion. Farmon Gafarov would be a nice guy for ROAD to have too so Nam Jin Jo and Min Jong Song don't end up as the new Arlovski/Sylvia.

Also any word on Eun Soo Lee? I know he had that bad knee break and planned on returning at WW but I haven't heard anything about him in a long while. He was the MW champ before Fukuda (had to vacate due to the injury) and would be a solid fight for Fukuda.

As I said, I dont really follow KMMA as much as I used to, but from the looks of it he seems satisfied in just running his gym.
Also, is it just me or does it seem that since SDW split with Road FC, most of Road's fighters are from RoadFC gym, Team Force, Savi MMA and small time local gyms? There used to be a bunch of Team Posse and Team Max fighters but they seemed to have dissappeared from Road FC events. Song Min Jong is the only one I can think of and even then it doesnt seem like he's getting the treatment that the other champs are getting (media coverage, 100grand fight purse etc)
 
I can see TOP getting the Fight Pass treatment at some point this year, especially given that ROAD now has an affiliation with Bellator.

Did you see Doo-Ho Choi has called out Cub Swanson? I hope Choi can be a lot more active this year. I'd prefer his next fight to be against someone like Andre Fili though.
 
As I said, I dont really follow KMMA as much as I used to, but from the looks of it he seems satisfied in just running his gym.
Also, is it just me or does it seem that since SDW split with Road FC, most of Road's fighters are from RoadFC gym, Team Force, Savi MMA and small time local gyms? There used to be a bunch of Team Posse and Team Max fighters but they seemed to have dissappeared from Road FC events. Song Min Jong is the only one I can think of and even then it doesnt seem like he's getting the treatment that the other champs are getting (media coverage, 100grand fight purse etc)
Yeah they definitely have their few go to gyms for main cards and fill up the rest with foreigners and guys from no name gyms. Team Max though just hasn't really been producing anyone lately (Uh Jin Jeon just recently fought for the MW title, Hye Seok Son was injured and blew weight by a comical amount last time he was scheduled, Song of course is FLW champ, not much after them). Team Posse is still repped but Eun Soo Lee, Dae Sung Park, and Hee Seung Kim are MIA, Seung Bae Wi is basically retired, Nam left for UFC, it's pretty much just Nae Chul Kim and Ik Hwan Jang. So I think it's more just those teams falling off than problems with ROAD.
I can see TOP getting the Fight Pass treatment at some point this year, especially given that ROAD now has an affiliation with Bellator.

Did you see Doo-Ho Choi has called out Cub Swanson? I hope Choi can be a lot more active this year. I'd prefer his next fight to be against someone like Andre Fili though.
TOP is definitely more likely than ROAD to end up on Fight Pass since they seem more like a developmental promotion while ROAD is trying to be major (as well as having beef with UFC). They do already have a broadcasting deal though and stream for free.

I hope Choi moves along a little slower but I think he can beat Cub right now. It would be a fun fight.
 
So whats the latest and greatest with regard to Doo Ho Choi, guys?

My korean sucks and finding information no matter how trivial is difficult to find on him. Would like to know why exactly why he kept putting Sicilia off (no discussion ever on his injuries for instance) and would like to know if there are any interviews with him in English.

Would also like to know if Sicilia ever recanted his pre fight comments or if he said anything after the fight to date. Thats been hard to find too.

He's a true mystery and I would like him to feature soon in upcoming UFC events. He's the top shelf in Korean MMA imo.
 
So whats the latest and greatest with regard to Doo Ho Choi, guys?

My korean sucks and finding information no matter how trivial is difficult to find on him. Would like to know why exactly why he kept putting Sicilia off (no discussion ever on his injuries for instance) and would like to know if there are any interviews with him in English.

Would also like to know if Sicilia ever recanted his pre fight comments or if he said anything after the fight to date. Thats been hard to find too.

He's a true mystery and I would like him to feature soon in upcoming UFC events. He's the top shelf in Korean MMA imo.
One of the times he pulled out I think it was something with his ankle (I don't remember 100% and would have to go digging). The other time it was something with his ribs.

No clue about Sicilia recanting his statements but they were still so hilariously off. I guess he never heard about Choi's street fighting in his school days (not that fighting outside of a pro setting even had anything to do with the fight which made Sicilia's statements dumber).
 
One of the times he pulled out I think it was something with his ankle (I don't remember 100% and would have to go digging). The other time it was something with his ribs.

No clue about Sicilia recanting his statements but they were still so hilariously off. I guess he never heard about Choi's street fighting in his school days (not that fighting outside of a pro setting even had anything to do with the fight which made Sicilia's statements dumber).


I don't think he cared honestly. Or at least he never showed any interest in Choi at all. Then again he said he wasn't going to touch gloves but did anyway at the actual time so. Most of his comments were ignorant even saying he was annoyed that he had to go 'over there' to 'kick his ass.'

But what else do you expect from a Spokane hick.

I am REALLY looking forward to Choi's next step and how soon is it happens. He has to be really up in the cue in my opinion. I was convinced top brass had to have taken keen notice after Sicilia destruction.
 
ROAD FC 28 poster
CYZElLBUsAIQWLc.jpg

MW champ Riki Fukuda defending against Korean MMA pioneer Jung Hwan Cha who is moving up from WW
Former Shooto FW (61.2 kg) Pacific Rim champ (he recently vacated the title) Yuta Nezu returns to ROAD to take on ROAD mainstay and former title challenger Je Hoon Moon
 
I don't think he cared honestly. Or at least he never showed any interest in Choi at all. Then again he said he wasn't going to touch gloves but did anyway at the actual time so. Most of his comments were ignorant even saying he was annoyed that he had to go 'over there' to 'kick his ass.'

But what else do you expect from a Spokane hick.

I am REALLY looking forward to Choi's next step and how soon is it happens. He has to be really up in the cue in my opinion. I was convinced top brass had to have taken keen notice after Sicilia destruction.

Im still upset Choi v Kawajiri didnt take place :mad:
 
Korean Top Team went 2-1 at PXC 51 today with Farmon Gafarov losing a very fun and competitive decision, Han Seul Kim taking a back and forth decision, and Kwan Ho Kwak further establishing himself as one of the premier BW prospects in the world by adding a PXC title to his TOP FC title.

Full event
 
TOP FC announced their first event of the year with TOP FC 10 on March 21st.
The card so far
Pretty nice looking card so far. Jung Min Kang is one of my favorites in TOP FC, was victim to Japanese matchmaking early on in his career but has completely turned it around and is always fun to watch. Tough fight for him in Chope but I think it's definitely winnable. Young Gwang Choi will also be defending his FW title, I think against Min Gu Lee but not 100% sure. Lee makes the most sense since he beat Sung Won Jo in his last fight.
 
Korean Top Team went 2-1 at PXC 51 today with Farmon Gafarov losing a very fun and competitive decision, Han Seul Kim taking a back and forth decision, and Kwan Ho Kwak further establishing himself as one of the premier BW prospects in the world by adding a PXC title to his TOP FC title.

Full event

Do you know if Kwak has completed his military service yet?
 
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