On the other side of the world on Korean New Year’s Day, two UFC champions were born.
UFC light heavyweight No. 7 Jamahal Hill defeated No. 2 Glover Teixeira by decision in the UFC 283 main event light heavyweight title fight held at the Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on the 22nd (Korean time) to become the new champion. In the flyweight unified title fight, which was previously held as a co-main event, interim champion Brandon Moreno won his fourth fight with champion Davidson Figueredo by KO in the third round to become the unified champion.
UFC 283 was held in Brazil with two title fights for the first time in about three years since March 2020. Besides the two title fights, there were also very meaningful matches for fighting fans. It was the retirement match of Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Hua, who was known as the best fighter of the era since the days of Pride FC and who had been the light heavyweight champion in the UFC.
‘Pride Fighting Captain’ ends his life
as a fighter Shogun, who debuted as a professional fighter in Brazil in 2002 and started working for Japan’s Pride FC in 2003, has worked with Quinton Jackson, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Alistar Overeem, Ricardo Arena, and the late Kevin Randleman. He defeated them in turn and reigned as a strong middleweight (UFC light heavyweight). Even though Shogun was called the strongest middleweight, he showed ‘romantic’ refusing to fight for the title because he couldn’t fight his gym colleague Vanderrey Silva, who was the champion. 헤라카지노
Shogun, who reigned as the hidden powerhouse of Pride, moved his activities to the UFC in 2007 when Pride collapsed. Although he lost to Forest Griffin via submission in his Octagon debut match, he won the title challenge by knocking out veterans Mark Coleman and Chuck Liddell through consecutive KOs. Shogun then won a rematch with Machida via first-round KO to become the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion.
However, the era of the shogun did not last long. This is because the opponent in the first defense was the ‘monster’ John Jones, who is said to be the strongest fighter of all time. After a humiliating ‘standing tapout’ defeat to Jones, Shogun took a step back from the title front, losing to Dan Henderson, Alexander Gustafsson, and Chael Sonnen in turn. Shogun had three consecutive wins from 2015 to 2017, but in July 2018, he suffered a knockout loss to Anthony Smith, revealing his limits again.
Shogun, who had overcome the odds before he knew it, had a revenge match against Ovince Saint-Proux, who had suffered a KO loss in the past in May of last year, but lost by decision after an abysmal battle. Shogun, who felt the limit in the Octagon, had a retirement match at the UFC 283 event held in his home country. The opponent is Ukraine’s rookie Ihor Fotieria. Shogun, who entered the fight valiantly, did his best to win the retirement match, but was knocked down after being hit by Fortieria’s punch rush in the second half of the first round, and lost by KO.
Shogun ended his professional fighter career of over 20 years with an undercard match that was neither a title fight nor the main event of the tournament, let alone the main card. Shogun, who was called ‘the artisan of stamping and soccer kicks’ during his Pride days, showed his potential to become a champion by adapting quickly even though his main weapons were sealed after entering the UFC. More than anything, Shogun continued to play in the Octagon until he was old enough to set a good example for his junior fighters until the moment he retired.
Can ‘entertainer Kim Dong-hyun’ become a ‘stun gun’ again?
Although he is in a different weight class and has a different career than Shogun, there is a fighter in Korea who has achieved as good a result as anyone else in the UFC. It is Kim “Stun Gun” Dong-hyeon, Korea’s first UFC fighter. Kim Dong-hyun, who entered the UFC in May 2008, climbed the octagon 18 times and posted a decent record of 13 wins, 4 losses and 1 null match. Kim Dong-hyun can be said to be the player who laid the groundwork for current Korean fighters such as ‘Korean Zombie’ Chan-sung Jeong and ‘Martial Arts Baek-ho Kang’ Da-down Jeong to be active in the UFC.
However, Kim Dong-hyun, who has never played a match in the 10 years since his UFC debut, has never been in the octagon for more than 5 years since his decision loss against Colby Covington in 2017. Kim Dong-hyun, who appeared in various entertainment programs since his days as a player, has been active as a full-fledged entertainer since April 2018, starting with a regular appearance in <Amazing Saturday-Doraemi Market>. In March 2019, he launched the YouTube channel ‘Mamie Kim TV’, which currently has 730,000 subscribers.
The problem (?) is that Kim Dong-Hyun is demonstrating much better ability than expected as an entertainer beyond the ‘entertainment outing of an active fighter’. In fact, in addition to <Doremi Market>, Kim Dong-hyun is making regular appearances in many entertainment programs such as <Unity to Kick>, <Master in the House>, <Steel Troop>, <Naked Korean History>, <The Return of Superman> and <Pure Fighter>. Even there are not a few programs where you just appear as ‘entertainer Kim Dong-hyun’ regardless of your job as a ‘fighter’.
Currently, Kim Dong-hyun is not a fighter, but as an entertainer, digesting many schedules, and since he has a 6-year hiatus from actual combat, it is not easy to return to active duty as a fighter. Especially because he has to give up a lot of the life he is currently enjoying in order to be active in the UFC, not anywhere else. Of course, Kim Dong-Hyun is still affiliated with the UFC, but this is just a means to utilize his status as an ‘active UFC fighter’ in various entertainment programs.
However, as Kim Dong-hyun has not yet officially announced his intention to retire, the final stage for ‘Fighter Kim Dong-hyun’ is absolutely necessary. Kim Dong-hyun also said that he was greatly stimulated as a fighter by watching Choo Seong-hoon, who climbed the cage and defeated Shinya Aoki in March last year in his late 40s. Will Kim Dong-hyun, the ‘pioneer of Korean UFC fighters’, be able to fight his last match as a fighter while receiving warm applause from fighting fans like Shogun?