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By: Jason Bent, MMATorch Columnist UFC Debut - May 24, 2008 vs. Jason Tan (UFC 84:Ill Will)
Dong Hyun Kim's UFC debut was so anticipated in Korea that it was televised not once, not twice but rather three times. You add this in with the one hour special that aired in the weeks leading up to the fight and you would have thought UFC 84 was all about Dong.
Kim's opponent was Jason Tan, a British fighter who has made two appearances inside of the Octagon and gotten destroyed in both of them. Tan's MMA record stands at 5-3 as of today and while he is a gamer it is painfully obvious to all who have witnessed him in action, that he is by no means a threat to anyone in the UFC. That said, he is a serviceable professional and the cold, hard truth is that more fighters in the world are on the level of Jason Tan and forever will remain so while those with the most talent make it into the UFC to stay. Kim was indeed going to be tested by Tan and the test was to see what the "Stun Gun" was made of and if he really did belong under the brightest lights of all inside the Octagon.
The fight itself was largely forgettable, and I had to go back and re-watch this fight in order to make the proceedings fresh in my mind once more. This bout was a dominating one for Kim and on a card on which Penn did the same to Sherk it must be noted that Tan never stood a chance, while Sherk at least did a few things throughout his bout.
Dong Hyun Kim took Jason Tan down, kept him on his back and fed him a steady diet of elbows, punches and forearm shivers for the bulk of the first two rounds. The third round looked as if it would be more of the same as Kim executed a crisp judo throw which sent Tan crashing to the mat but just a few seconds later it was over as Kim ended this one and scored a TKO victory due to strikes of the elbow variety. Korea went wild, or at the very least smiled for a while before seeing the fight another two times and Kim's debut was a raging success.
99% of all fans are likely to have not seen this bout and it is not necessarily one I would implore you to seek out but it was the first UFC appearance for Dong Hyun Kim and gave us a glimpse of why he was on the Zuffa radar for so long.
Immortal Controversy - September 6, 2008 vs. Matt Brown (UFC 88:Breakthrough)
Matt Brown made his bones on 'The Ultimate Fighter 7,' where he was painted as if he were a miniature version of the "Brawny" man and Paul Bunyan. While he like many others will never be able to live up to any of the hype surrounding them, Brown proved to be a cardio machine and one hell of a tough fighter even if he never could be as tough as the other fighters made him out to be.
Dong Hyun Kim was penciled in on the main card of UFC 88 and his opponent would be this very same Matt Brown and for most UFC fans, this was simply a showcase fight for one of the fighters that they had grown to know and love by way of the 'TUF' franchise. In Brown's case it was more or less the fact that he was well known that made this fight somewhat compelling to most as "Long Duk Dong" was more of a known commodity than was this South Korean import.
The fight began and Dong Hyun Kim was hanging off of Matt Brown for the bulk of the first round, and at times he looked like the character of "Megumi" from the horror movie 'Shutter' of a year ago. Brown was being outworked and this came across as a shock to the fans who knew nothing of Kim and at least something about Brown. Although one of the magical things about 'TUF' is that the exposure alone can suddenly elevate fighters to a perceived level of ability based on watching them talk some trash and roll around in the gym during training footage. This is not to say Brown is without abilities or does not deserve the opportunities he has been given, but rather that his having been on 'TUF' made him the strong favorite going into this bout and as such, the crowd was thoroughly shocked following the exciting first round.
Brown rebounded nicely from a first round which he clearly lost and would begin to put forth a much better effort as he began to land punches and do so efficiently. What made this all so possible was not that Brown suddenly recharged his batteries between rounds and it was not because Brown was the more elite fighter, but mainly because Kim gassed.
Hard.
Dong Hyun Kim began gasping for air like he were Mark Coleman against Shogun, and it was disheartening to watch because it never is a good thing to watch a fighter allow the fight to slip out of their hands strictly based on what one has to assume is poor conditioning. Brown began to rally and had the crowd behind him for all of the second and third round as well as the announcers who were definitely seeing things Brown's way all of the way.
Matt Brown was the bigger fighter as he was fighting at welterweight after competing at middleweight on 'TUF' and it showed as his strength was just too much for Kim who made matters worse because of his running out of gas. Brown was in trouble once and Kim was in trouble for two out of three rounds which is what made everyone seem puzzled to say the least following this one.
When the fight ended, Kim wore a dejected look and most imagined he had indeed lost the bout, but the reading of the scorecards changed everything. One judge saw the fight for Matt Brown by a score of 29-28 and the other two saw it for Dong Hyun Kim with scores of 29-28 twice. Kim had won the fight and it was a decision which was soundly booed by the restless audience.
Obviously patriotism plays a certain part in terms of the reaction from fight fans, and in this particular case it was clear to see that the American fans were pulling for their fighter from the very beginning. It would be easy to dismiss this as merely patriotic feelings, but the truth is that Kim did not win this fight; and in reality he could have, but gave it away due to tiring out and allowing Brown to dictate the action while landing the more powerful shots.
Dong Hyun Kim had won a fight which most felt he lost and would live to fight another day. "The Immortal" Matt Brown would live to fight another day but would have to go home with the loss on his record and a worse taste in his mouth than when Jeremy May put lime juice in his dip can.
Dong Hyun Kim had now fought on the main card of a UFC PPV and walked away with a decision victory over one of the most notable contestants from the most recent offering of 'The Ultimate Fighter' and yet few were impressed. He would need to do something in his next outing in order to finally make some American fans and give the Korean fans something they would like to watch three times in a row like the victory over Jason Tan. Karo Parisyan was up next and this would be the biggest test of Dong Hyun Kim's career and on the biggest stage of all at UFC 94.
"Stun Gun" Stunned by "Comfortably Numb" Karo- January 31. 2009 vs. Karo Parisyan (UFC 94)
This fight was all kinds of ugly and helped to set the table for a rather disappointing night after all of us had expected the main event to be more than just a greasy one-sided battering. Karo Parisyan was coming off of a severe back injury and some recent panic attacks and many were shocked that "The Heat" actually made it back inside of the Octagon to fight. Karo Parisyan was at one time one of the world's best welterweight fighters, and a legitimate threat, but the aforementioned obstacles had reduced him to more of a name fighter than anything else by this point.
Much like the Matt Brown fight at UFC 88, Dong Hyun Kim outworked his opponent to win the first round on seemingly everyone's scorecards. Kim outwrestled Parisyan and it looked like this time the Korean would be able to keep up the pace as he didn't look quite as tired.
The second round changed matters considerably and Parisyan nearly submitted Kim with a kimura before he seemed to let go more than his opponent fought his way free. Parisyan landed several decent punches throughout this round and punctuated matters with an excellent judo throw. Dong Hyun Kim was clearly tired in this second round and by now it seemed as if this would be his trademark as he lost the second round as easily as he won the first and the third round would definitely decide matters.
The third round of this fight was brutal. Turtles with morphine flowing through their veins and dropped onto a miniature track would have been more fun to watch in a race than Parisyan and Kim were to watch fight in this stanza. Dong Hyun Kim's biggest claim to fame was a body shot which happened to land flush and pack a little bit of pop behind it. It was nothing particularly crippling, but simply the one thing he did which stood out. As for Parisyan, he did nothing as remarkable as the run of the mill body shot landed by Kim, but he landed more shots which seemed to allow him to win this round.
This third round was fought by two men who looked as if they either thought they had the fight won or simply didn't care by this point. The third round finally ended and it was time for the judges to hand in their scorecards and declare one of these men the winner. Scores were 29-28 Parisyan, 29-28 Kim and 29-28 Parisyan for your winner by split decision, Karo Parisyan.
Parisyan would fail the post-fight drug test due to the fact he had high levels of banned narcotics such as Hydromorphone, Oxymorphone, and Hydrocodone in his system at the time of the bout. Parisyan's painkilling cocktail cost him this victory and as a result, the decision was overturned and this fight would be ultimately ruled a "no contest."
Dong Hyun Kim again showed excellent abilities and won the first round of a fight against a fairly tough opponent. The problem was that he once again gave away the final two rounds or more rather ran out of gas which allowed his opponent to take them with ease. Kim is a talented fighter and he is damned lucky to still be able to boast of an undefeated record and especially so after his last two performances. He is going to need more than luck when he takes on talented submission specialist T.J. Grant on the undercard of UFC 100 and more than luck, he will need to have enjoyed a fantastic training camp and show us he is a vastly improved fighter.
Korea may still wish to watch Kim fight three times in one night but for now it can be said that most Americans harbor no desire to see him once more. Three times is said to be the charm and perhaps against Grant, his luck will indeed run out and he shall be on the receiving end of his first official loss. Then again, maybe the charm will be that Kim finds a way to show us just why Zuffa thought enough of him to offer him contracts and he will retain his unblemished record as well as his UFC career with an inspiring victory at UFC 100.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
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