Road to UFC Finals Preview: Flyweights

In an event remarkable for its lacking main card and strange airtime, down in the prelims there are four fights between several Asian newcomers. What is that all about? Well, they’re the finals of Road to UFC, and if you’re again asking “well, and what is that all about?”, you’ve come to the right place. 

Road to UFC is an elimination style tournament that the UFC held during two fight cards in 2022 in search for new Asian prospects to sign for cheap.

So basically Contender Series but Dana doesn’t even watch the fights.

The tournament was not advertised at all for western audiences but both events aired on UFC Fight Pass for most of the world. The finals were supposed to be held at a UFC event in South Korea, at the end of the day the event was moved to the Apex in Nevada, but the card (which includes a lot of Asian fighters other than the 8 finalists) was kept intact, including the airtime. So that’s where we are now — a weird UFC card with a heavyweight main event, a bunch of Asian fighters and four finals for a tournament you have never heard of before in your life.

What’s the deal then? Well if you’re a sicko that will watch the card anyway, you might as well know who these guys are fighting for a UFC contract, since they’re one third of the whole card. I’m here to tell you all about it, and we’re starting with the Flyweight finals.

Choi Seung Guk vs. Park Hyun Sung

The flyweight final is being contested between fellow South-Koreans. 6-1 Hyun Sung Park faces off against undefeated 7-0 Seung Guk  Choi in a fight between well rounded but raw talents.

Choi Seung Guk

Choi  took the long road to the final as he won two unanimous decisions en route to this bout. He’s an athletic and confident fighter that doesn’t seem to have much depth in any area but puts together his pieces well and finds answers to the problems in front of them. He fought two southpaws, one shorter and less physically imposing than him in the game Indonesian Rama Supandhi, and the  other taller, a powerful kicker, in the chinese Qiulun.

Choi is the younger of the two, but he has more experience, and I’m not talking about not being undefeated. Before turning pro he had eight amateur fights (compared to Park’s two). It shows in his way of fighting, he seems to be a smart and aware fighter inside the cage. Maybe that’s why he kinda coasted in the third round of his two wins? Maybe we’ll see in this fight.

It was clear off the bat Choi was looking to pressure behind feints to look for big kicks

Eventually he found success with low calf kicks from the inside

He also maintained a long distance which forced his shorter opponent to try to close, every time he did Choi was looking to intercept his entries with counters

At the end of the first round he was taken down. After that, however, he won the scrambles and punished with solid top position and ground and pound.

Against an opponent who was harder to pressure, Choi showed some understanding of ringcraft. The footwork wasn’t always great but he was aware of his position relative to the cage and constantly looked to regain initiative.

Facing a more powerful kicker than himself, he did not concede range and comfortably kicked with him

Takedowns and backtakes during scrambles were a deciding factor

Once again, the smothering top control and ground and pound were important to secure the victory

Park Hyun Sung

The undefeated Park took two first round finishes to get here (though one of those wasn’t an easy victory). He’s big for the division, athletic and physically imposing and has an amateur background in kickboxing and Muay Thai. In his first fight he took advantage of his physical attributes (range, power and strength) against the undersized Indonesian Jeremia Siregar, taking him down and pounding him from back mount. During his second bout, however, he looked very troubled against his former Tiger Muay Thai teammate, the Thai Topnoi. Topnoi was handling him comfortably on the feet but a well timed takedown and well executed choke saved him to advance to the finals.

Park was committed to deny his smaller opponent his longer weapons via being good at catching kicks

There wasn’t many exchanges in the fight and one of them ended in a low blow. But Park looked mechanically sound and powerful putting punches and kicks together

Park’s size and strength proved too much in the clinch and he demonstrated solid back control for the ground and pound finish

Against Topnoi the story was very different, he was clearly a level below him on the feet…

Despite the difficulties he remained calm and made the most out of the scramble initiated after a takedown attempt against the cage

What to Expect

I’m not sure if either guy is “UFC ready”, even though the division is in need of more bodies at the moment. They’re still interesting prospects who should have a few years before hitting their prime. In Choi’s case improvements should be focused on developing more layered ofense and defense — he seems a flexible and smart fighter that just needs more tools to compete with a higher level of opposition. With Park it’s harder to tell as he’s probably the more physically talented of the two but doesn’t seem to have the same poise and process, but being a dangerous fighter both on the feet and on the ground and big for the division will always give him bigger margins to keep developing. This should be a competitive affair between the two countrymen; Choi is more adaptable but will have to deal with a guy who can match him in most areas and is bigger than him. Not gonna make a prediction for this one but if anything, I’d like both to get signed after the fight.

See you in the next article, where I’ll preview the bantamweight final.