Jun Yong Park is one of a handful of fighters debuting at UFC Shenzhen at the end of August.
The UFC heads to Shenzhen, China inside the Universiade Sports Centre on August 31. The promotion’s debut in Shenzhen is headlined by UFC strawweight champion Jessica Andrade defending her title against rising star Weili Zhang. With the card assembled, the number of debuting fighters immediately stands out. One of those already confirmed is middleweight Jun Young Park, who will debut against Alexander Hernandez (6-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC).
How will Park fare in the UFC:
Park is a good signing who has quality wins over Glenn Sparv and Ray Cooper III. The Korean is at his best on the feet, but he does have a good ground game as well. His wrestling isn’t great but he threatens with the anaconda choke often and has smashing elbows on top. On the feet, Park has a good jab he utilizes and is always throwing in volume, never just one strike. Park does a good job changing tempos with his hands as he will just stab with the jab and then rip combinations with big uppercuts and hooks. He lands more than he misses being a very accurate striker as well. He will take shots being a pocket fighter but his chin has held up considerably well, as he really hasn’t had anybody get the best of him on the feet. His weakness comes in the takedown defense area, being taken down many times throughout his career. Park has always done a great job getting back to his feet, but against a good wrestler that may be his kryptonite.
How Park matches up with Hernandez:
Hernandez’s stand up is proficient, he has solid boxing skills, a good jab that he pumps and also feints well to create openings for bigger strikes. Hernandez has a good right hook-right uppercut he throws often. Hernandez has shown power in his hands, being able to end the fight with one punch, but he mainly focuses on touching his opponent rather than loading up on one punch. Park in many ways fights like Hernandez which makes this a great fight. Hernandez has solid grappling but his wrestling probably isn’t good enough to keep the Korean down. All in all, experience is the key factor for Park as Hernandez is just still so young in his career.
