Despite a point deduction for holding the fence, South Korean Seung Woo Choi earned a unanimous decision at UFC Busan against Suman Mokhtarian.
Featherweight action at UFC Busan on Saturday saw Seung Woo Choi face Suman Mokhtarian. The preliminary card battle had Choi looking to bounce back from losses in his first two UFC bouts, including a defeat at the hands of Canada’s Gavin Tucker back at UFC 240 in July. Mokhtarian, meanwhile, hoped to rebound from the first loss of his career, against Sodiq Yusuff a year ago.
Mokhtarian found himself under fire early, eating one on the chin from Choi. Choi then landed a kick, which Mokhtarian had to shake off. Choi would later drive his opponent into the fence, while Mokhtarian fired a number of knees. Choi then returned fire, landing to the belly and head. However, a fence grab, in fact several, led to a point deduction against Choi by the ref. With ninety seconds remaining, Mokhtarian then came out firing, while Choi held center, firing kicks and a combination upstairs to keep him at bay.
The point deduction was no doubt going to loom large as the fight wore on. Choi went upstairs with a kick early in the second. Mokhtarian’s best weapon was his right hand. But Choi warmed early, firing off hooks while his opponent covered up. Looking rather one-sided, Mokhtarian managed to survive, breaking free only to eat a kick and wind up on his back. From there, Mokhtarian tried to latch on to an arm, but he was in a bad spot. Choi maanged to land a number of elbows from half guard. The ref briefly paused to action to return Mokhtarian’s mouth guard, which had fallen out at some point during the earlier attack. But Choi was able to cause more damage after that brief pause, before they returned to the feet for the final minute.
Round three likely had Mokhtarian down, regardless of the point deduction. And while thigns started slow, Mokhtarian exploded mid-round, landing jumping attacks and a number of strikes. However, he wound up planted on his back after getting a little too wild, and was immediately in danger of succumbing to an arm-triangle. What might have been a fight-changing moment, wound up playing into Choi’s hands. Losing the choke, he was still in side control, with only ninety seconds remaining in the fight.
Ultimately, he’d run out of time, losing the unanimous decision, as Seung Woo Choi picked up his first win in the octagon.
Official Result: Seung Woo Choi def. Suman Mokhtarian by unanimous decision (29-26, 29-26, 29-25)
