KOREAN MMA-ISTS DON THE GI

As the month of July rounds out with two events in Taiwan - The Taiwan BJJ International and PROFighting MMA - we see the second half of the year heating up with both MMA and BJJ competitions.  In Southeast Asia, Ramadan approaches (July 18 - August 19) so the schedule takes a hiatus.  Kicking off the BJJ scene will be the BJJF Philippines event on August 11th, followed by the (in)famous SEABJJ Bangkok Open on October 27th, and the ADCC Asia-Pacific World Qualifying Trials in Manila on November 3rd.  Check out BJJ-Asia.com for everything BJJ in Asia.  Looking north again and reflecting back on the mixed BJJ/MMA scene in South Korea, correspondent Inseung Hwang of Blackbelt Korea shares some results from the recent Motorone Jiujitsu Competition:

MMA notables Nam YuiChul, Samuel (Team Posse/Jiujitsu World), and Kim JiHoon (Jiujitsu World) competed in Gi at the 6^th Motorone Jiujitsu Competition on the 3^rd of June.  You might have seen a lot of other well-known Korean MMA fighters wearing Gi. Seo Doowon (Free/John Frankl Team), well-known for his consecutive wins in Road FC and the famous TV Korean show called Qualification of Guy, dropped by the place to support his jiujitsu teammates. Nam YuiChul, Samuel, and Kim JiHoon who are currently competing in Road FC were waiting for their Gi competiion.       

The Team Posse fighters Nam and Samuel did well in the competition, breaking the fan’s predictions that they wouldn’t be good at fighting in the Gi. Nam, who had 4 stripes on his blue belt and was promoted to purple belt after the tournament, fought his teammate Hyun-kwon Kil (Jiujitsu World) in the finals. He used his wrestling skills against pure jiujitsu guys and managed to defend all the kimono-based attacks. In the final, Kil - who used to be the first leader of Korean Top Team - got the kimura and made Nam tap. But both fighters seemed they were enjoying fighting against old friends.

The 30-year old fighter Nam is one of the top Asian lightweight fighters. Surprisingly, he’s been training Gi-Jiujitsu at John Frankl's Jiujitsu World under the black belt Duk-young Jang, himself an MMA veteran of Spirit MC. Nam said, “At first, I started Gi Jiujitsu since I couldn’t do normal MMA training because of the injury. Right now, I really enjoy the Gi moves which I never get from no-gi or MMA grappling. I feel like I’m developing myself to be a better and well-rounded mixed martial arts fighter.”

He also talked about his next fight. “My next fight will be in the Road FC lightweight tournament. I heard the tourney will be filled with all the best lightweight fighters in Asia. I can’t wait for it."

Neither can we!  Check out the rest of the photos from the competition on Blackbelt Korea here.