The Road to UFC Season 2, which gives Asia’s top MMA prospects a chance to make it to the UFC, is just one day away. The two-day event, which takes place on Nov. 27 and 28, will feature four quarterfinal tournament flyweight, bantamweight, featherweight and lightweight divisions and four non-tournament bouts.안전놀이터
The flyweight division will feature “Rapper Fighter” Lee Jung-hyun (20-8) and “Chung Chan Sung disciple” Choi Seung-guk (26-6-2). At bantamweight, Lee Chang-ho “Ant Hell” Lee (28-7-1) will compete, and at featherweight, Kim Sang-won “No Prablum” Kim (30-9-1, 5-0) will compete. In the lightweight division, Ki-Bin “The Danger” Ki (32-17-8), Sang-Wook “Steel Army” Kim (29-7-1) and Sung-Chan “Honey Badger” Hong (32-9-1) will compete. In a non-tournament bout, welterweights Hansul Kim (32-13-4) and Sang-Hoon “Twin Knife” Yoo (33-7-2) will compete.
‘Rapper Fighter’ flyweight Lee Jung-hyun. Source | Lee Jung-hyun Channel
Lee Jung-hyun appeared on Mnet’s “High School Rapper 4” and made a name for himself. He is a fighter who is as skilled as he is popular. His opponent is Mark Klimako (26-Philippines), who has one win in the world’s leading organization, Bellator. In Japan and the Philippines, the matchup between Lee and Klimako is considered to be the most noteworthy.
“Of course, when someone like me comes out, there’s a lot of attention,” said Lee. I’m very happy that everyone is looking at me well. I’m waiting for the match to come soon,” he said, expressing confidence. He analyzed his opponent, Klimako, saying, “He’s a very good MMA fighter in terms of boxing, kickboxing, and wrestling, so I tried to get a little bit of an edge in all aspects.”
“He’s someone I’ve been watching since I was in elementary school,” he said of his relationship with Road FC Chairman Jung Moon-hong, “and I consider it a very good relationship because he shaped me as a person.”
With both his rap and martial arts skills, Lee Jung-hyun was “quite popular. I even got a few dashes,” he recalls of his school days. He added that he only attended middle school and dropped out in high school.
As the youngest member of the Korean team, Lee will be the first Korean athlete to compete. “I don’t feel any pressure,” he said, adding, “I’m going to start well because I think the rest of the Korean fighters will do well if I start well first.”
“There is a Myanmar fighter named Joshua Ban who is competing in Dana White’s Contender Series (DWCS), and if he does well and goes to the UFC, I would like to meet him on the UFC stage. I don’t want to see him compete in DWCS because I don’t want him to look bad, so I would like to go up there and meet him there,” he said.
As for the person who helped him the most in this match, he said, “Coach Lee Yoon-joon (former Road FC bantamweight champion).” “Actually, I don’t have a team, I’m a free agent, and even though I’m not a team player, Yoon Jun almost acted as my main coach and coached me for about a month or two. He made me more perfect in every aspect, including what I lacked,” he said.
‘No Principle’ featherweight Kim Sang-won. Source | TFC Channel
Sangwon “No Prabloom” Kim is a fighter who has fought overseas in Japan, Australia, and Russia as part of the famed Korean Top Team. He has also defeated a UFC fighter. His first fight was against Jack Jackins (Australia). “At that time, it was an Australian festival, so I felt like a sacrifice, but I overcame that fear and finished with a good submission in the first round, so that’s what I remember the most,” Kim recalled.
Next up, he faces Keisuke Sasu (28-Japan). Keisuke is a former champion of the Japanese martial arts organization Shuto. “He’s a tough fighter with very good fundamentals,” Kim said of his opponent, “and I’ve prepared a strategy to tire him out by occupying angles he can’t hit.”
“I’m in good shape. I’m sleeping well, I’m eating the food they give me here at the Performance Institute (PI), and I’m resting. The food is nutritious and protein-oriented, and we continue to provide it accordingly after checking the players’ physical condition.”
On Korean Top Team’s YouTube channel ‘Fighting Life’, heavyweight fighter Lee Ho-joon made a pledge: “If Kim Sang-won wins, I will buy 100 Buffets.” In response, Kim said, “I won’t. “I don’t think I’ll do it,” Kim laughed.
Meanwhile, earlier in the day, UFC fighter Jun Yong Park said of Jung-Down, “I feel like he’s a senior and a friend who I can look up to and learn a lot from now that I still have a lot to learn.”
Non-tournament welterweight Hansul Kim. Source | Korean Zombie MMA Channel
“Woosu Daestar” Kim Hansul is a member of Korean Zombie MMA and the 2021 WGFC and AFC welterweight champion of the Korean mixed martial arts organization. He competed on Season 1 of The Road to UFC, where he defeated John Adahar with a first-round triangle armbar, but was unfortunately not signed.
“Korean Zombie” Chung went to the UFC for the last Henry Cejudo fight and met with matchmaker Sean Shelby, and it was said that he would push for a contract if Kim won.
“The difference between saying something and not saying something is huge,” Kim said, “and I think the part that appealed to me will definitely work.” He continued, “But even if the manager made an appeal, it would be useless if the performance didn’t match it. So I think it’s a matter of first showing up and then performing. If he wins, I think the situation is very positive.”
His opponent in the non-tournament welterweight division will be Nualaji Tai Laker (22-China). Nualazi boasts an 8-1-1 record with a 100% KO/TKO ratio. Most of his fights are finished in the first or second round.
“I’ve never fought a tall, left-handed opponent before, so I worked hard to prepare for that,” says Kim. “I got big partners and asked them to put me in a left-handed position even if they were right-handed.