No, the legendary Super Hluk title was not on the line.
At a glance, these fights could have just as easily been included in this morning’s can-crushing roundup. Both fights featured established names taking on little-known Korean fighters with less-than-stellar records- one of which ended rather predictably. But perhaps that wouldn’t be a fair interpretation of the phrase “can-crusher.”
Over the past three years, Melvin Manhoef has deteriorated into a fighter who is only capable of defeating his own shins, having gone 1-4 (1) since 2009. Last night, Manhoef was matched up against 14-9 (2) Korean fighter Jae Young Kim. Despite his mediocre record, Kim had won ten of his fights by knockout and wasn’t lost on the ground, either; his most recent fight was a victory by North-South choke against Hee Seung Kim.
The duo produced an entertaining three round fight that saw Manhoef walk away with a split-decision victory. Manhoef may have looked slow at times, but his ground game appears to be less of a liability than it has usually been, as he was taken down but never submitted. He now stands at 25-9-1 (1) overall.
Melvin Manhoef vs. Jae Young Kim
If Jae Young Kim is too credible of an opponent for Melvin Manhoef to deserve to be called a can, then Jin Soo Yuk isn’t credible enough to deserve that distinction. That’s a pretty bold statement on its own, let alone considering that his opponent is freak show specialist Ikuhisa Minowa. See, unlike the cans and freaks like Bob Sapp, Hong Man Choi and Butterbean that Minowaman has made a career out of defeating, Jin Soo Yuk is A.) actually a middleweight and B.) winless in his MMA career. He’s yet to prove that he can defeat anybody, so should we even be considering him a fighter?
Jae Young Kim doesn’t disappoint, as he gets caught in a kimura with one second left in the first round. Minowaman is now 54-34-8 in his career, while Jin Soo Yuk falls to 0-3. God bless your crazy hearts, Road FC matchmakers.
Ikuhisa Minowa vs. Jin Soo Yuk