ROAD Fighting Championship has announced ROAD FC 050 for November 3, in what will be the promotion’s debut in Daejeon, South Korea.
ROAD Featherweight Champion, Mu Gyeom Choi, will make his fourth title defense against top contender Jung Young Lee. And at openweight, Japanese legend Kazuyuki Fujita clashes with Mu Bae Choi.
Choi vs. Lee, ROAD FC 050 (Graphic via ROAD FC)
Mu Gyeom Choi (8-4) won the featherweight title back in 2014 as part of the ROAD FC Featherweight Tournament. In his final match-up against Bae Yong Kwon, he was the underdog, but he surprised the world with stellar defense and well-rounded skills to earn the victory. Nowadays, Choi has made the most title defense of any ROAD FC Champion, defeating the likes of Murat Kazgan and Marlon Sandro to defend the strap.
Jung Young Lee (5-1) has become the standout challenger in ROAD FC’s featherweight division, possessing great striking and grappling prowess. At ROAD FC 049, he rematched Se Young Kim – the only man to defeat him. This bout was set to determine who would challenge Choi for the title. Lee destroyed Kim en route to a first-round TKO win, avenging his sole loss in stunning fashion.
Choi enters the fight as champion at 28-years-old, whereas the challenger Lee is just 22-years-old and appears to have an incredible future ahead of him.
Choi vs. Fujita, ROAD FC 050 (Graphic via ROAD FC)
Simple known by the “Heavy Tank of Busan” by some, Mu Bae Choi (12-7) is a decorated wrestler and one of the very first high-level Korean MMA fighters. In 2004, he began his career in the historic PRIDE FC out of Japan, fighting in the organization five times. Choi has also seen action in K-1, Sengoku, and Pancrase, all of this before making an MMA comeback in 2015 under the ROAD FC banner. With wins over Soa Palelei, Gary Goodridge, and Dave Herman, the Korean has proven himself to be tough as nails. Even after getting KO’d by the heavy hands of kickboxing legend Mighty Mo, he wanted a rematch immediately.
Kazuyuki “Ironhead” Fujita (17-14) is a living legend in Japanese mixed martial arts. The former Fedor foe began his career in freestyle wrestling, and narrowly missed being an Olympic competitor in Greco Roman. This all led him to a pro wrestling career in Japan where he first rose to fame. Like Choi, the Japanese legend made his MMA debut in PRIDE FC, notably fighting in their first ever event. He also fought in K-1, Sengoku, and returned to MMA late in his career under the RIZIN Fighting Federation banner. Fujita notched wins over the likes of Ken Shamrock and Yoshihiro Takayama in PRIDE and has faced some of the sport’s all-time greats. This list includes Mirko Cro Cop, Wanderlei Silva, and the aforementioned Fedor Emelianenko.
Mu Bae Choi vs. Kazuyuki Fujita will be a grueling battle between two 48-year-old veterans.
