ROAD FC 43: Young Choi vs Hoon Kim Interim Middleweight Title Fight

[Asurah]

Champion Jung Hwan Cha is still recovering from his shoulder injury so now former DEEP champion Young Choi will face off against Hoon Kim for the interim title.

Choi has been active since 2000, making him one of the first generation Korean fighters. Up until recently he had mostly fought in Japan other than a short stint in Spirit MC. In 2015 he won the DEEP Middleweight Title from long time champion, Yoshiyuki Nakanishi. He then signed to ROAD and beat Korean MMA legend Dong Sik Yoon to earn a title shot. He came up short in the title fight against Jung Hwan Cha, losing in an extension round, but it was a very tightly contested fight.

Hoon Kim might have a mediocre record but he has some good wins, including being the first man to beat Robert Whittaker and most recently finishing former ROAD and DEEP champion Riki Fukuda. He's also a first generation Korean fighter, getting into the sport as a b-boy with no martial arts experience. He's a pretty generous sized Middleweight that can explode for big finishes.

Main Card
Interim Middleweight Title Bout
Young Choi (19-11-3) vs Hoon Kim (10-11-2)

Featherweight Bout
Mikuru Asakura (5-0 pro, 7-1 ammy*) vs Kil Woo Lee (4-6, former Bantamweight champion)

*included his ammy record because THE OUTSIDER does both (considered semi-pro) so he has had recent ammy bouts

$1 Million Lightweight Tournament Reserve Bout
Seung Yeon Kim (2-2) vs Alexander Merezhko (8-1)

Featherweight Bout
Marcio Cesar (18-9-3) vs Jung Young Lee (3-1)

Lightweight Bout
Kyung Pyo Kim (6-1) vs Arman Tsarukyan (8-1)

Young Guns 37 prelims
Featherweight Bout
Evgeniy Ryazanov (17-11) vs Kyung Chul Min (3-1)

Women's Atomweight Bout
Yoon Ha Hong (0-4) vs Yuri Shim (2-0)

Flyweight Bout
Tae Kyun Kim (2-3) vs Won Hee Jung (2-1)

Middleweight Bout
In Soo Hwang (1-0) vs Zdenek Polivka (0-1)

Flyweight Bout
Gi Won Ko (0-2) vs Dong Hyuk Ko (0-2)

Openweight Bout
Won Jun Choi (1-2 pro, 6-0 ammy) vs Jae Woong Yoon (1-3)

Featherweight Bout
Min Kyung Min (1-0) vs Tae Sung Kim (6-1 ammy)

 

[leto1776]

This will make two events in consecutive weeks for Road. They had an ambitious schedule originally set for this year that seemed to have fizzled. Looks like they're ready to pick up steam.

 

[Fork]

think choi's experience and well-rounded skillset should be enough to give him the win, but kim hoon is a dangerous guy and can finish a lot of guys he'll face in ROAD.

 

[leto1776]

Second bout announced:

 

[leto1776]

Apparently, This event is now RFC 43, while the China event will be held 11/11 and will be RFC 44.

 

[Asurah]

They must be high on the Asakura bros, already giving Mikuru a former champ for his second fight.

I wonder what Lee has been up to the last few years, could have been military, though he waited until very late to complete it if so.

 

[leto1776]

http://roadfc.com/main/news/news_view.php?key=JTI1MjUzRCUyNTI1M0RnTjBjVE8=

Merezhko already won a reserve bout, so not sure what the deal is here. So long as they actually use the reservists, I'm good. Nothing worse than when someone loses, then comes back and wins

 

[Asurah]

It seems like they are just trying to make sure the reserve guys have the same amount of fights as the guys in the bracket, they already made a few other alternates fight multiple times.

 

[leto1776]

Their first fight was fireworks. Hopefully this fight will be as well.

http://roadfc.com/main/news/news_view.php?key=JTI1MjUzRCUyNTI1M0R3TjBjVE8=

 

[leto1776]

Just announced:

Gotta be do or die for Nam. Dude is on a serious skid, and coming off two big KOs. Jung is the guy who fought in an alternate bout for the $1million tournament against Merezhko, walking out with a ponytail. His record looks bad, but the dude has a high energy output. His last fight was very entertaining.

 

[JkMMA]

Just announced:

Gotta be do or die for Nam. Dude is on a serious skid, and coming off two big KOs. Jung is the guy who fought in an alternate bout for the $1million tournament against Merezhko, walking out with a ponytail. His record looks bad, but the dude has a high energy output. His last fight was very entertaining.

Damn, I'm surprised nam is fighting so quickly after that brutal b2b ko loss. Thought he might retire or something. Yui chul nams chin isn't the same anymore.

 

[leto1776]

Se Young Kim is out with injury. Marcia Cesar of AKA Thailand is in to replace him.

Also, final fight of the main card:

 

[leto1776]

 

[manboy<3]

I hope young Choi teaches that hoon a lesson

 

[Asurah]

I remember Cesar from his run in the Pancrase World Slam tournament where he got knocked silly by Taichi Nakajima in the finals (was also Pancrase's final ring show)

Looks like he hasn't fought since then.

Good to see Kyung Pyo Kim back, he's one of their best young talents. I had him winning the decision over Dae Sung Park which probably would have put him in the $1 Million Dollar Tournament. He's also coming off a win up a division at Welterweight, against former King of Pancrase, Let's Gota.
Glancing at Arman's record, he has a few solid regional wins, including one over Merezhko who is an alternate for the $1 Million Tournament. Should be an interesting fight.

 

[Big Al's Texas BBQ]

Just announced:

Gotta be do or die for Nam. Dude is on a serious skid, and coming off two big KOs. Jung is the guy who fought in an alternate bout for the $1million tournament against Merezhko, walking out with a ponytail. His record looks bad, but the dude has a high energy output. His last fight was very entertaining.

WTF, he got ko'ed by the same guy twice in a row? Wow.

 

[Fork]

i think it would have been better for nam to take some more time off, and working hard on fixing what's wrong before coming back. losing this fight would obviously be a disaster, and i think even if he wins this fight it'll be with the same style he's been using for these last couple losses and could end up reinforcing his reliance on that style which wouldn't be good for him. the bulldozer style obviously got him far, but it doesn't seem like it'll work for him going forward.

 

[Asurah]

Young Guns card is out

Featherweight Bout
Evgeniy Ryazanov (17-11) vs Kyung Chul Min (3-1)
Ryazanov is yet another MFP guy that ROAD has brought in (MFP held a trials tournament for ROAD's $1 Million Tournament, putting one guy in with Elnur Agaev and have an alternate in Merezhko). Most of his losses came early on, he's on a 15-5 run since late 2013.
Min is finish or be finished, he has yet to go to a decision in 6 combined professional and amateur fights.

Women's Atomweight Bout
Yoon Ha Hong (0-4) vs Seul Gi Jeon (0-1 pro, 1-0 ammy)
Hong's record is lopsided partially due to the high level competition she has faced. It also doesn't help that she likely would have gotten the nod in her last fight had she not gotten large point deductions for missing weight. This is pretty much do or die for her career.
Seul Gi is from Gumi MMA, which honestly is mostly jobbers, though they did produce Doo Ho Choi. Looks like she was a national Sanda competitor.

Flyweight Bout
Tae Kyun Kim (2-3) vs Won Hee Jung (2-1)
Jung already has a few big knockouts to his name, fun fighter to watch. His only loss is due to an illegal soccer kick in ZST earlier this month.

Middleweight Bout
In Soo Hwang (1-0) vs Zdenek Polivka (0-1)
Looks like Polivka is on jobber duty here, he's also 0-3 as an amateur.

Flyweight Bout
Gi Won Ko (0-2) vs Dong Hyuk Ko (0-2)
Looks like Gi Won made the move to SSABI MMA.
Dong Hyuk was brought in as a late replacement sacrifice to Yuki Motoya in his pro debut. He trains out of Team Strong Wolf with Jung Eun Park.

Openweight Bout
Won Jun Choi (1-2 pro, 6-0 ammy) vs Jae Woong Yoon (1-3)
Seems that Choi is at MMA Story now which should be a positive, gets to train with the FW and MW champs and other top talents in the promotion.
Been awhile since Yoon last fought, he made the move from Gumi MMA to Ssen Gym since his last fight. He beat DEEP Megaton legend Seigo Mizuguchi in his pro debut. This lead to him getting matched up against promising Korean Middleweight prospects Hungry Hae Jun Yang and Uh Jin Jeon, leading to his record getting in trouble.

Featherweight Bout
Min Kyung Min (1-0) vs Tae Sung Kim (6-1 ammy)
This is Min's first fight in 2 years. He was scheduled to fight recent ROAD star, firefighter Dong Guk Shin, in ROAD's ammy league earlier this year.
Kim has been doing well in ROAD's amateur league the past 2 years and trains out of SSABI MMA

 

[leto1776]

Wow, that was fast finalizing the Young Guns card.

Looks good. Never judge the records on these cards. Young Guns always brings the

 

[MMALOPEZ]

I remember Cesar from his run in the Pancrase World Slam tournament where he got knocked silly by Taichi Nakajima in the finals (was also Pancrase's final ring show)

Looks like he hasn't fought since then.

Good to see Kyung Pyo Kim back, he's one of their best young talents. I had him winning the decision over Dae Sung Park which probably would have put him in the $1 Million Dollar Tournament. He's also coming off a win up a division at Welterweight, against former King of Pancrase, Let's Gota.
Glancing at Arman's record, he has a few solid regional wins, including one over Merezhko who is an alternate for the $1 Million Tournament. Should be an interesting fight.

That’s a nasty ko