The most compelling women’s fight outside of the UFC, Bellator or Invicta is taking place this weekend.
While the long and exhausting push to the end of the year continues in MMA, one of the most compelling matchups of the season takes place halfway across the globe.
While she’s made a name for herself mostly in Invicta, Jinh Yu Frey has made the trip to South Korea to take on former UFC talent Seo Hee Ham. Ham won the then-vacant title in June against Mina Kurobe at ROAD FC 39 via TKO, leading to this encounter, which headlines ROAD FC 45 (also known as ROAD FC XX 2) this weekend.
Frey was generous enough to give BloodyElbow a bit of her time to discuss the challenge ahead, her situation with Invicta, and what she aims to accomplish.
Victor Rodriguez: So you’re going to be fighting Seo Hee Ham for the atomweight title at ROAD FC, and I just want to know – you’ve seen fights of her, I presume? Studied her game a bit? How do you feel she matches up against you?
Jinh Yu Frey: I think that the matchup…in the past I’ve had success with counterfighting, and she’s more of a pressure fighter. So we’ll see who’s better at implementing their gameplan. But with the different scoring system here in Korea, I’ve had to keep that in mind. They don’t do 10-9 rounds; they do like, infinite scoring and they award things, they weigh things a little differently here. So I’ve had to keep that in mind and try to implement some changes in my gameplan, too.
VR: Well, have there been any other concerns as far as the scoring system and rulesets go? It’s not a system that you’re necessarily used to.
JYF: Yeah, There are a couple of things that I…like, there’s no elbows on the ground, (nor) standing. You know, that’ll be new. There was something like, if you’re both on the ground, it’s OK to kick to the head. Like if I’m in her guard or whatever, and my knees are down (on the canvas) she could kick me in the face. You know, just things that, nothing too major. I think the infinite scoring is, basically it means that they award anything that’s aggressive or improving your position. Like, if it were a Jiu-Jitsu match, passing guard…if it were a K-1 match, moving forward, that sort of thing. That’s kind of how it’s been explained to me.
VR: Well, I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask about the situation with Invicta. You’ve been known mostly for the exposure that you’ve gotten under their banner. Is there some sort of arrangement for you to return to Invicta? Is this sort of, I guess you’d be between both organizations or something like that?
JYF: Yeah, you know, luckily the contract with Invicta is not exclusive, so as long as you have their permission you’re free to fight outside of your contract. I still have a couple of fights on that contract with them, and they knew that they weren’t going to be able to match me up with anybody for a while. They told me that with the win over Cummins, I did earn another title shot. Unfortunately with Herica (Tiburcio) being out pregnant and just, nobody else in the division at that time being on a win streak, it’s going to take a little time for them to build up a contender. So, you know, I’m 32 years old and I let them know that I’m not trying to sit on the shelf for nine months while they get a contender. So they were willing to work with me on that and let me fight outside the promotion.
VR: That’s interesting, I wasn’t aware that Tiburcio was expecting.
JYF: Yeah, it left the division in a pretty weird spot with Ayaka (Hamasaki) deciding to permanently stay at 115 and Herica being pregnant, we’re just kind of in a weird spot.
VR: I see. Is this the first time you’re in Korea?
JYF: I’ve been to Korea as a child, but this is the first time as an adult. I don’t really remember the first time being here.
VR: And how is the process as far as getting acclimated with the time difference and everything?
JYF: You know, honestly? Both my husband and I were just talking about this this morning. We don’t feel – we travel quite a bit and we’ve found that when we travel east it seems like we have a hard time with the time change, but whenever we go west it seems like it’s just a little more natural. Both of us slept and got a good amount of sleep last night. We woke up feeling refreshed. Just like a normal day.
VR: This is probably a little torturous, but I have to ask: what food do you usually miss out on having when you’re cutting weight?
JYF: You know, I’m gonna say that I love Korean food. Love it. So this has been a little bit difficult. And actually, we got in a little bit late last night and by the time we got in, got our luggage, got through customs, got to the hotel, it was pretty late. Both of us were tired, I had been awake for like 30 hours or something. You know, just didn’t have the energy to try to brave Seoul (laughs). So we ended up eating here at the hotel and it was a little difficult explaining to them ‘No, I can’t have sodium. No, I can’t have any sauce.’ I just need like, a plain, just a fish fillet. And they’re just like ‘What? What do you mean?’ Korean food is so flavorful and there’s so many spices, of course it’s all the stuff that I can’t have right now. And they’re like ‘Are you sure?’ And I’m like ‘…Yeah, I’m sure.’ Actually we’re about to head out in a bit to a grocery store. We always bring our own cooking equipment just because it’s so important to know every gram, every micronutrient that’s going into my body the week of the fight for the weight cut. So we’re about to head to the grocery store to pick up some things.
VR: Being that you’re fighting so close to Christmas, you won’t be having the traditional American Christmas, I’d imagine, seeing as you’re in Korea. That’s not really a downer for you since you love Korean food so much, so that’s kind of a bonus, right?
JYF: Yeah! You know, Thanksgiving wasn’t too bad, I was good for Thanksgiving. I wanted to have my weight a little bit lower prior to getting here just because it’s my first time travelling internationally and trying to cut weight, so just to be a little on the safe side I’d like to keep my weight a little lower than what I normally do.
VR: As far as the title goes with a win over Ham, what do you think your goals would be as champion after that?
JYF: You know, ideally whether I win the title or not I’d like to go back and win Invicta’s title. And after that, who knows? I haven’t really thought that far, because I still have some fights on Invicta’s contract. ROAD has expressed that if I win the title that I come back and defend it as well. So, first things first. Just get in there and win this title.
Road FC 45 takes place this Saturday, December 23rd as of 3:00am EST. The full card also features Chris Barnett (a.k.a. Huggy Bear) as well as former RIZIN fighter Destanie Yarbrough. For more information and updates, check out their content on their YouTube channel.