The first of four Road to UFC tournament finals at UFC Vegas 68 saw Korean flyweights Seung-Guk Choi and Hyun-sung Park face off on the event’s preliminary card.
A UFC contract was in the offer for the winner of each tournament final, with four weight classes taking part: flyweight, bantamweight, featherweight and lightweight.
With Saturday’s event originally slated for South Korea before being shifted to Las Vegas, a late start time allowed Asian fans to tune in to see who would make it to the big show.
In the first round, it was a slow start initially. Park did get caught off balance and fell to his back. Choi did nothing while standing over Park landing some kicks until the ref stood them up. A lot of feints from both guys but little action ensued. Park started to put on more leg kicks as the round went on. There was finally a good exchange between both guys where each man landed. The round ended with a nice leg kick from Park.
In round two it was more feints from both men to start. Park was landing more of the leg kicks and landed a heavy right hand in an exchange. Choi finally caught a kick and sat Park down with a punch. Never in danger, Park did get back to his feet. Park was then being more aggressive coming forward landing with the jab, right/lefts, and leg kicks. Choi was not dealing well with the pressure; he clinched up but nothing came out of it. Park ended the round with the momentum.
In the final round Park was engaging more and Choi was throwing as well. Choi shot in on two takedowns but couldn’t get them. Park would be the one to get onto a grappling position and take the back standing. Park sunk in the rear-naked choke standing. Choi fell to his back and escaped the choke for a second, but on the second go around he had to tap. Nice ability to dig deep and switch up the gameplan from Park. He’s your Road to UFC winner at flyweight.
CONTRACT SECURED! HyunSung Park is your first #RoadToUFC winner with the 3rd round submission!
[ #UFCVegas68 | Live NOW on @ESPNPlus ] pic.twitter.com/uTGMj6IZiL
— UFC (@ufc) February 5, 2023
Official Results: Hyun-sung Park def. Seung-guk Choi by submission (rear-naked choke), Round 3, 3:11
