Watching Mirko “Cro Cop” vs Fedor Emelianenko with his dad was that first proverbial brick for Min Woo Kim on his Road to UFC. Kim was electrified by this iconic Pride heavyweight title fight. Intently observing and thinking he could do that too, he decided to take up training in 2006.
The former Road FC bantamweight champion began his martial arts journey with a lot of jiu-jitsu, Muay Thai, and kickboxing competitions before his amateur MMA debut came. This was done as a means to fully round out the skills. To create competitive familiarity even more before amalgamating the disciplines.
The successes kept coming as Kim became the first Korean to win the blue belt world championship. Cementing himself as a two-division champ in Muay Thai and Kickboxing plus he was unbeaten in MMA. Despite the measured and calculated approach to everything, Kim’s mixed martial arts debut was still nerve-wracking and many lessons were learned.
“When I first made my debut, I was 18 years old in Young Guns Road FC”, Kim told The AllStar, “On the first fight of my professional career, I was very scared. I was very nervous. I’ve never been hit with an open finger glove the way that I did in my debut. Even if I did win, it was such a hard fight and I should call it a comeback. Since I was losing the fight but ended up winning.”
“The longest to survive will end up making it” is Kim’s overriding MMA ethos.
To that point, he took away a lot from his first loss to Je Hoon Moon at Road FC 20. What to fix and improve on to ensure full fighting actualization is one day reached. They have had a three-fight series. “Korean Moai” picked up back-to-back wins following the initial setback.
Another instance of this resolve was shown when he fell short in his first Road FC title bid to Soo Chul Kim at Road FC 38. Something which presumably made winning the gold in his sophomore title bid against Moon at Road FC 52 especially satisfying.
A happening that would likely is equal parts cathartic and redemptive. Compounded even further by the fact that this was that aforementioned rubber match with Moon.
At this juncture, the pressure of the moment is not resonating in any pronounced way. It’s a matter of maintaining focus until Kim is teetering on the precipice of signing that UFC paperwork officially.
“As of now, nothing has changed compared to my previous fights. I’m treating this fight just like any other fight throughout my career,” Kim revealed. “Based on what I’ve heard is that, if I make it to the finals they would offer the finalists both contracts with different amounts of money to make. But I’m here to win this. I don’t think I’ll be overwhelmed until I win the finals and have the UFC contract right in front of me.”
‘ROAD TO UFC’ will take place on June 9-10 in Singapore at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. In the opening round, Kim will take on Xiao Long in the bantamweight division.
Fighter profile
Min Woo Kim is a 28-year-old male fighter from South Korea with 10 pro wins and 2 losses. Kim most recently fought Ik Hwan Jang at Road FC 56 on Saturday, November 9, 2019.
Min Woo Kim’s recent form coming into this matchup
Min Woo Kim has gone 4-1 in the last 5 professional MMA fights.
- Win vs Ik Hwan Jang • Decision R4 5:00 • 2019-11-09
- Win vs Je Hoon Moon • Submission R1 2:15 • 2019-02-23
- Loss vs Soo Chul Kim • Decision R3 5:00 • 2017-04-15
- Win vs Yuta Nezu • KO/TKO R1 0:15 • 2016-09-24
- Win vs Je Hoon Moon • Decision R3 5:00 • 2016-03-12
