UFC Fight Night: Seoul, a card that aired in its entirety on Fight Pass starting at 2 a.m. PT, proved worth the vigil and delivered several exciting finishes.
Two of the most interesting came on the prelim card. We saw a knockout by slam followed by nasty elbows from Dominique Steele on Dong Hyun Kim. And then there was a harsh elbow injury for Yao Zhikui off of Freddy Serrano’s takedown, which forced a stoppage.
Let’s take another look at that KO by @TheDomTSteele! 😳 #UFCSeoul LIVE on @UFCFightPass https://t.co/rB5tJloNzp
— #UFCSeoul (@ufc) November 28, 2015
In the first fight of the prelims, welterweight Steele scored a knockout on Kim—the Maestro, not the Stun Gun—at 4:31 of Round 3. With Kim against the cage, Steele picked him up for a huge double-leg, lifting Kim up high before slamming him to the mat. In the slow-motion replay, Kim’s head bounced off the mat, appearing to knock into Steele’s on the ricochet. Kim was spread eagle on the mat and Steele drove home three, possibly four, wicked elbows as referee Leon Roberts dove in to stop the fight.
This is Steele’s second fight and first win in the Octagon, bringing his professional record to 14-6. Kim’s loss in his UFC debut brings his record to 13-7.
Just like that! @FredySerrano125 gets the W tonight at #UFCSeoul! https://t.co/sKrPiSKaVA
— #UFCSeoul (@ufc) November 28, 2015
In the third bout, Serrano’s takedown of Zhikui ended the fight quickly, at 44 seconds into the first round.
As Serrano took Zhikui down, Zhikui reached down to the mat to brace himself. It’s instinctual, but it’s also inadvisable in MMA, as evidenced by the abounding videos of arms broken in exactly that way in fights.
After referee Greg Kleynjans stopped the fight, Zhikui remained on the mat with his arm splayed out to the side and unmoving. While there’s no official word, as of this writing, on what the specific injury is, we can be sure that the arm was floppy, gross and probably dislocated. A still of the injury:
Picture by Mitch Viquez of the Zhikui injury. Feel sick @SeanSheehanBA @TommyToeHold @Izi_Garcia @PetesyCarroll pic.twitter.com/Cwh7CnuzqO
— Dale Jordan (@MMAMadDale) November 28, 2015
This was Serrano’s second fight and victory in the Octagon, following his debut KO win over Bentley Syler in March. His professional record is now 3-0, although he was on The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America and wrestled in the 2008 Olympics. Zhikui moves to 2-3, with a UFC record of 1-2.
Fight Night 79 turned out to be an entertaining card and included five finishes out of 11 total fights.
The other finishes are:
Dongi Yang TKOs Jake Collier, 1:50 of Round 2
Doo Ho Choi KOs Sam Sicilia, 1:33 of Round 1
Dong Hyun Kim TKOs Dominic Waters, 3:11 of Round 1—with Waters in a crucifix.
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