MMA news updates

Instead of spamming the boards everytime I see some cool news, I’ll post it here. I’ll also keep track of prospects I like, new signings to ufc/dwcs/Bellator/etc.

* Edited at 05.02.2022, 4:44 PM ET *

There were only 2 from 6 non tournament bouts between two asians.

Tbh I want to see more fighters from korea and japan rather than china. Especially after last season

Micheal Johnson vs CDF may 20th. That’s a banger 

Taking into account how Ferreira looked in his last two fights, and then combined with the fact that Johnson is so inconsistent, this feels like a coin-flip kind of fight. 

Agreed. They have far better developed scenes, better training and are producing better fighters.

According to information in this group we do have 5 koreans 5 japanese (one of them seems very questionable) and 3 more free spots.
Btw does anybody know what’s happening with Kanako Murata  and Naoki Inoune? Are they still injured? 🤔

According to a tweet by the ufc, jailton vs bigi boi is now the main event for may 13th. Unsure if it’s a typo or someone pulled out 

Korea doesn't have a better regional scene than China, they're doing worse in major orgs like the UFC and OneFC. And there are even more cans crushing in the Korean regional scene.

Probably made smith vs Walker the co-main which I think is the right choice if you had to pick a main event between those two

I’m not sure about that. Ufc really likes smith; I don’t think they would take him out of a main event slot after screwing him with the hill booking

Well that aged poorly 

Smith just told a reporter he is the co main🤣

His name was included in the original leak, but Shuya kamikubo is officially confirmed for RTU 

Yes they do. You can look at the regional rankings and find guys with good records who are still young in most weight classes. Organizations like Road FC puts on competitive fights on the main cards and tries to get outside talent( Barnoui). The Chinese rankings are much harder pressed for good records. There are many young guys that ufc tries to push but they lose everytime they take a step up then goes back to can crushing in WLF. As such there are lots of guys under 30 with losses in the 10s. Japan is even further ahead in terms of talent but UFC seems reluctant to sign these guys. Could be because of hard to break contracts or any other reason.
Your point of them not having any success in UFC or One is mostly because they don't sign many Korean or Japanese fighters. One primarily focuses on Southeast Asia ( see most events in Singapore) and Japanese fighters would rather fight in Rizin which is a widely known org that is close to home and they get paid well.

Still a little weird that they decided to put two South Americans together for a main event in Charlotte. Not too many Brazilians or Surinamese people in the grand ole state of North Carolina. I think Anthony Smith's corn fed raised self would be a bigger draw for some yee haw ************s

Yeah it’s a weird switch for sure. Not sure what prompted it

they are doing the bare minimum, they're not hurting for cash so they just don't give a **** and it's become glaringly obvious to a lot of people. even casuals are noticing it.

all the UFC have to do while they have the ESPN contract is just make sure they meet ESPN's annual quota for live events. UFC gets paid upfront something insane like $150 million to have the budget for a certain number of cards that year, and I'm sure ESPN probably gives them some sort of "bonus" on the back end if they have high attendance numbers and things like that. 

Now I understand that the UFC has had plenty of **** cards or nonsensical main events in the past even when they were hurting for cash, but right now it's just obvious that they simply don't care. The only time they really give a **** these days and get mad is when a injury or weight issue ruins a card

Charlotte and Greensboro, North Carolina are much more diverse than they used to be.  Lucas Lepri runs a BJJ academy in Charlotte, North Carolina.

* Edited at 04.04.2023, 7:28 PM ET *

No, they don't. I can easily look up their records right now to disprove your claim.

According to Tapology the highest-ranked p4p Korean fighter in Korea right now is Ji Yong Kang, and his last win was against a 1-3 bum. And his best win was against some 19-17 guy.
https://www.tapology.com/fightcenter/fighters/217915-ji-yong-yan

Same story with Jung Hyun Lee, this guy is talented, but his record is absolute trash. The best win was against some 11-11 guy. 

The only guy with a decent record is Min Woo Kim, but you're telling this guy's record is any better than the regional Chinese guys?

"Your point of them not having any success in UFC or One is mostly because they don't sign many Korean or Japanese fighters"

This is absolutely false for Korea, it's true for Japan because most of them only fight in Rizin. But there are a good amount of Korean fighters in ONE and the UFC. In fact, I would say the Korean fighters in ONE and the UFC are better than the rest of the Korean fighters in the Korean regional scene. You don't hear about them because they don't do well in the UFC or ONE.

It's baffling to me how some people think the Korean regional scene is any better, it's full of can-crushing and **** matchmaking like the Chinese regional scene. But they're even worse because they have fewer talents/fighters.

* Edited at 04.04.2023, 8:39 PM ET *

That's Why they crushed the chinese fighters last year on RTU and likely will again this year. 2 koreans signed on the last RTU plus all the ones they have locked down for this year.

Here is a list of decent Koreans that could easily be picked up with minimal losses and are NOT signed by a major promotion:  

• In Soo Hwang (6-1) MW ( not a prospect but Korea's best unsigned MW)
• Han Seul Kim(13-4) WW won last year on RTU but didn't get signed
• Sun Chan Hong (9-1) LW age unknown but good record with notabke victory over Will Chope
• Soon Young Yoo(10-2) LW
• Si Won Park(8-0) LW 21 years old out of Road FC
• Jae Hyun Park (6-1) LW
• Ji Yon Yang (7-0) FW 27 years old out of Road FC and Rizin
• Min Woo Kim (11-2)FW 29 Champion in Road FC
• Joo Sang Yoo (5-0) FW also 4-0 as an amatuer but still time for more experience
• Hyun Jong Song (5-0) FW 20 years old but needs to fight better competition
• Jung Hyun Lee (8-0) FLW 20 years old out of Road FC
• Tae In Kim (4-0) LHW normally I wouldnt include someone 4-0 but LHW needs all the help it can get
• Myung Hwan Kim (6-1) HW 25 years old again a division that needs help.

You obviously didn't look that hard. Again go through the chinese rankings and you end up with a lot of Xiao Longs that are young but have already racked up north of 30 fights and have a lot of losses.  

• Xiao Long (24-7) 24 years old
• Fuchong Yang( 23-9) 27 years old
• Zhikang Zhao (25-6) 28 years old
• Balajin (23-4) 31 years old

I found some chinese fighters that had good records but for some reason these above are the ones that ufc seems intent on getting on their shows. You think this is better than what South Korea is producing despite Korea and Japan running through China on RTU last year? Give me a break.

* Edited at 04.04.2023, 9:20 PM ET *

In Soo Hwang hits very hard for a welterweight.  I have seen him fight for ROAD FC when they streamed their events on YouTube.

* Edited at 04.04.2023, 9:46 PM ET *