Last post I began my overview of the South Korean fighter scene, starting with the most prominent and promising Korean MMA guys; Chu Sung-hoon, Kim Dong-hyun, Denis Kang, Yoon Dong Sik and Jung Chan-sung. Admittedly, I may be missing a few people in the Korean fight scene, but so far I got the big Korean players in international MMA and a pretty good run down of K-1.
**Note to self** - add Ham Seo-hee, more female MMA fighters and look more into Spirit MC guys.
This time, I'm coming at you with some K-1 love. Unfortunately, Korean K-1 ain't that pretty. Thus far I'm going to talk about
Choi Hong-man
Lim Chi-bin
Lee Su-hwan
Lim Su-jeong (notable for being a female Korean K-1 fighter)
Also I'll talk briefly about Noh Jae-gil and Kim Se-ki (because I saw both of them fight live, and met Noh)
Otherwise, Kim Min-soo
There are more but they are all literally not worth mentioning in any way.
Choi Hong-man aka "The Techno Goliath" (named for his affinity for dancing to techno after a victory haaa) also dubbed "The Korean Monster" (by Japanese media) is a professional K-1 fighter that has dabbled in MMA as well. Here in Korea we know him, we love him, we literally look up to him. The man is 7'2, hovering between 327-360 lbs. This man is absolutely enormous. Choi posesses a tumor near his pituitary gland, which caused him to continue growing and accounts for his giant stature and build, though if I recall correctly it has recently been removed. Choi possesses a K-1 record of 12 wins and 5 losses, and an MMA record of 1 win and 2 losses. His most notable win is over Semmy Schilt whom he beat by split decision in K-1 Seoul GP 2006. He also beat Bob Sapp and Akebono 3 times (loollll). Recently, he dropped three fights in a row to Jerome LeBanner, Ray Sefo and Badr Hari. His foray into MMA hasn't gone so well. He beat the shit out of a 215 lb Bobby Ologun in a huge mismatch, then matched up with Fedor Emelianenko at Yarennoka! 2007. Emelianenko looked to be in trouble early, but managed to armbar the giant for the win. Choi's next MMA bout was against Mirco "Crocop" Flipovic, a fighter seemingly past his prime, but still able to finish Choi by TKO due to leg kicks (he literally kicked the fuck out of Choi's legs so bad that he couldn't continue).
Choi also, hilariously enough, has started a musical career with South Korean model Kang So-hee under the moniker "Beauty and the Beast". The music is terrible and watching Choi rap before one of his fights was just the goofiest shit I've ever seen.
Beauty and the Beast - Everything about this picture is awkward as fuck
My analysis - Choi Hong-Ma
n is physically imposing enough to bully his opponents around, he's got good reach and he's got decent skill. Thing is, he's awkward and pretty slow, and people are figuring him out. I mean Badr Hari literally jumped and punched Choi in the face. He gets picked apart with leg kicks a lot because he isn't terribly mobile, despite his reach advantage, and if you can stay away from his knees (which are already pretty much at your face level) you can beat him pretty soundly. He's only been KO'd once and has thrown in the towel recently against Badr Hari. I think we might be seeing the beginning of the end for Choi, he literally lost every one of his fights last year and two the previous year (that's five in a row between K-1 and MMA). Basically 1) dude needs to stay the fuck out of MMA because that is not working. 2) He needs some tune up fights. Losing to Badr Hari, Ray Sefo and Jerome LeBanner is nothing to be ashamed of, but if they just toss him in against a tough guy right away it won't be too great for morale.
Lim Chi-bin is a K-1 fighter boasting a record of 9 wins, 6 losses in his K-1 career. Despite his not so great record, he's still probably the best Korea has to offer in his weight class. Notable wins include erm...other Koreans. I did have the pleasure of seeing him fight at the K-1 Max Seoul 2009 tournament which he ended up winning after beating three opponents in one night (hey improving your record from 6-6 to 9-6 in one night, not bad!) Pretty exciting fighter, and the dude can take a hit like a champ. His match against Lee Su-hwan in the final was exciting as hell, despite being knocked down twice he was able to win by KO in the first round. With that regional tournament victory, he gets seeded into the Final 16 for the K-1 2009 Grand Prix. His first opponent will be Taishin Kohiruimaki (who has beaten Lim Chi-bin previously). We'll see how the fight goes this time.
Me shaking hands with Lim Chi-bin after he won the tournament. Nice guy.
My analysis: Honestly I don't have a ton to say about him other than he was exciting as hell to watch fight at the K-1 Max Seoul event. Seems like a good guy, and I like him as a fighter. Hope the guy improves and finds some success.
Lee Su-hwan has a record of 8 wins, 7 losses in his K-1 career. Record doesn't look that great, but of his 8 wins, 6 have been by KO. He also was a finalist in the aforementioned K-1 Max Seoul tournament, reaching the finals by beating his first two opponents by extremely impressive KOs. Because of his impressive tournament performance, he has been added in a reserve match for the Final 16 tournament against Yuya Yamamoto.
My analysis: I really think this guy has promise. I was more impressed with him than any other fighter I saw at the K-1 Max Seoul tournament. He won his first two matches in extremely impressive fashion. He finished mongolian fighter Munguntsooj Nandin-Erdine (jesus what a name) by brutal headkick KO. Seriously the guy did not get up for a scary long time, and finally got dragged out on a stretcher. He then finished his next opponent, Noh Jae-gil by KO via BODY KICK. He KOd a guy with a BODY KICK. This guy has amazingly powerful kicks, and is just amazingly strong. He also had Lim Chi-bin on the ropes in the final, scoring two knockdowns in the first round until finally being KOd himself via punches. I really like this guy, he made a fan out of me at that event and I'll be rooting for him from now on.
Lim Su-jeong is a female K-1 fighter who made her debut at the K-1 Max Seoul show against a Japanese female K-1 fighter, Reina. This fight was, to my knowledge, the first female fight that K-1 has ever held. This is a pretty big deal and could open a whole new division for K-1. It was a great fight too, tits to the wall slugfest between these two tough women. The fight went all three rounds and one extra round. When it was all said and done Su-jeong came out the victor (though props to Reina for a tough fight).
My analysis: Not sure what else to say. Tough, tough fighter that really impressed with her victory over Reina. It wasn't the most technical fight, but neither fighter gave an inch and showed a ton of heart. Also she's a total babe.
Noh Jae-gil holds a record of 4 wins, 3 losses with 1 KO. I don't know much about the guy, other than he made it to the second round at K-1 Max Seoul. He was the guy that got KOd via body kick by Lee Su-hwan.
My analysis: Don't know much about the guy as a fighter, but he's a really nice guy. Despite having a disappointing night (and probably in a bit of pain), he still took the time to pose with me for a picture while I was marking out like a jackass over everything K-1. Really cool guy, wish him a lot of luck.
Kim Se-ki holds a record of 1-1 with 1 KO. Apparently when I saw him fight at k-1 Max Seoul, it was his K-1 debut (I didn't realize that until just now). He made it to the second round until he lost to Lim Chi-bin (who went on to win the tourney). Tough fighter, can really take a beating and keep going.
My analysis: Again, not much to say. Pretty good performance for a novice, definitely a tough guy. The other thing to say is this guy is hilarious. For the first fight, he comes out to traditional Korean music looking like some sort of Korean hobo. His second fight he comes out thugged out to Ace Hood - Gutta (which is a rad song btw). I was dying laughing, that guy has a lot of character. Like him a lot.
Kim Min-Soo is a p. terrible fighter, 4 wins and one loss in K-1 and 2 wins, 7 losses in MMA. I'm only including him because he has had the pleasure of losing to both Bob Sapp and Brock Lesnar. And yet, he still beat Minowaman.
My analysis: Uh..he's terrible. Lost to Bob Sapp and was Brock Lesnar's first opponent. I just get a kick out of that for some reason. Interestingly, he replaced Choi Hong-man to fight Brock Lesnar in Lesnar's MMA debut when Choi failed to meet medical requirements (due to his pituitary tumor).
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