UFC Fight Night 79 brought the UFC to South Korea for a successful debut as the Fight Pass action seemed to deliver a surprisingly decent night of fights for those in attendence. Many have noted the South Korean fans to be some of the best fan they have witnessed as they not only supported the other non-Korean fighters, but reacted to every subtle nuiance that was happening in the cage.
If you didn’t catch the fights, it’s most likely because they took place early Saturday morning due to the time difference. Nonetheless, let’s recap what happened. The card didn’t feature a lot of notable prospects or star power, so let’s just take a look at the important things a fight fan might take away from Fight Night 79.
Promising Contender at 170 (if he wants)
Both former lightweight champion Benson Henderson and Jorge Masvidal fought for a narrow 25 minutes today, and were both able to display their respective skill sets. At the end, a split decision victory was announced for Benson Henderson, and it was the right call. Masvidal fought a great fight, but I feel that he just didn’t have as much volume as Henderson did. Benson regularly attacked the leg, pressured in for clinches, secured some takedowns, and looked like a champion-caliber fighter in there against a vastly underrated Jorge Masvidal.
The interesting bit came after the fight when Henderson removed his gloves during the post-fight interview with Kenny Florian. It’s well known that this was Henderson’s last fight on his UFC contract, which means he is a free agent. Henderson was heard saying the words, “was that impressive enough to warrant a fight with you?”, to the camera. Some have inferred that this could be a call out towards former welterweight champion, Georges St. Pierre, who is currently on a career hiatus and has mentioned returning in 2016. Hopefully we see Benson Henderson re-sign with the UFC as he is no doubt one of the best martial artists at either lightweight or welterweight, and he should be fighting the best of the best. With one more big win under his belt, I feel a welterweight title shot could be in the near future so long as he stays with the promotion.
Mina Plays Spoiler
Alberto Mina played the massive spoiler today when he captured a split decision from Yoshihiro Akiyama. After a close first round which could have gone either way, Mina landed big counter strikes on Akiyama in the second to almost force a stoppage. While Akiyama mounted a dominant third round, it was too little too late for the Japanese MMA sensation.
While Akiyama definitely looked every bit of 40 years old, he still showed that he has some weapons in his game. He wasn’t able to do as much grappling this fight as I’m sure he would have liked (afterall, Mina is a very accomplished grappler), but he did land some brutal leg kicks and flurries of punches. Mina on the other hand showed great counter-striking, but his performance dwindled in the third round when his movement was so badly impaired that he could barely stand. Mina flopped on several occassion in the last stanza, which prompted many viewers to call for a 10-8 round towards Akiyama; this would have made the fight a draw. Others have out-right disagreed with the judging, and wanted the first round to be scored towards Akiyama, but neither man was able to mount much offense.
Korean Superboy
The massive prospect out of South Korea, Doo Ho Choi, picked up his second UFC victory in just as many fights. After a stunning 18-second KO over Juan Puig in his UFC debut, Choi went up against powerhouse slugger Sam Sicilia today. Both Choi and Sicilia landed bombs on each other from the opening bell, but it was clear that Choi’s laser straight right was going to beat Sicilia’s looping lead left hook. Choi displayed fantastic distance control hopping in and out of punching range, timing as he slipped under Sicilia’s punches to land his own, and variety as he mixed in the right uppercut in place of the straight which landed in effect. Choi was able to KO Sicilia at 1:33 of the first round, and continue his UFC hype train one step further. Choi then proceeded to call out Tatsuya Kawajiri in his post-fight interview – Kawajiri was scheduled to face Mirsad Bektic on December 11th, but Bektic recently pulled out due to injury. What a fantastic fight that would be, and a great way for Choi to receive American exposure should he win.
Women Went to War
In the only female bout of the night, Seo Hee Ham and Courtney Casey engaged in a wild 15-minute brawl. The Korean, Seo Hee Ham, was able to pick up her first UFC win when she received the split decision nod from the judges. Casey landed her fair share of strikes however, and put together a successful round one as she backed Ham up and continually landed blitzes of punches. Ham maintained her compsure in the second and third rounds, and was able to fire back and eventually persuade the judges the give her the narrow victory. It wasn’t pretty, but Seo Hee Ham lit up the crowd as they cheered for their female representative.
