AFC 15: Beauty And The Beast Preview

AFC 15 will be hosting their first event of 2021 in a cracking card featuring two title fights in the middleweight and heavyweight division. The event will take place at the Sindorim Techno Mart Grand Ballroom in Seoul, South Korea.

In the main event, Jae Young Kim will be making his first title defence of his AFC middleweight belt against Sang Il Ahn. In the co-main, a kickboxing heavyweight match with the AFC title on the line will be played out between Yang Rae Yoo against Hyun Man Myung.

Here is a quick preview of the two title fights.

AFC 15 Main Event

Jae Young Kim (25-13) vs Sang Il Ahn (5-7-1)

The main event will feature Kim make his first title defence of his AFC middleweight belt against Ahn.

Kim is currently riding a two-fight winning streak with both victories coming in the AFC promotion with impressive two first-round finishes in both bouts. His last fight was emphatic, to say the least as Kim scored an amazing KO finish of In Ho Cha in just 58 seconds of the first round to win the interim AFC middleweight belt. The fight saw Kim rocked early and he looked to be on the defensive, however during a wild exchange, the “Fighter of the Wind” landed a critical right hook to knock Cha out cold.

Later promoted to undisputed champion, Kim will be looking to make it three successive wins for the AFC promotion and his first successful title defence. Having competed professionally since 2004 in promotions such as Road FC, TFC (where he became champion in 2017) and ACB, this will be his 39th MMA fight. A veteran of the game, his reputation in Korea is well respected.

Ahn has not fought since March 2019 and will be eager to back in the winning column having not won since 2017. Although his record reads two straight losses in his most recent outings, the man did not necessarily lose his last fight but was disqualified due to low blows after his opponent Jason Radcliffe was unable to continue at Double G FC 2.

“Dynamite” Ahn will be returning to the middleweight division, a weight class he has not fought at since 2014 since moving up to compete at light heavyweight. Like his nickname “Dynamite” suggests, Ahn is naturally a KO finisher having finished 4 out of 5 of his wins and has a lot of power. Ahn has competed at Spirit MC, Road FC and Double G FC.

AFC 15 Co-Main Event

Yang Rae Yoo (29-14-2)(kickboxing) vs Hyun Man Myung (5-1)(kickboxing)

This bout will determine who the strongest Korean heavyweight is as Yoo faces off against Myung with the AFC heavyweight title on the line. The fight will be contested on the feet as a kickboxing bout.

Yoo has had mostly kickboxing fights and two MMA fights both coming by loss. His last MMA fight was in 2014 in Road FC promotion where he was pitted against Nae Chul Kim and lost by unanimous decision. However his last competitive kickboxing fight was in 2018 where he defeated Jairo Kusunoki by unanimous decision. A competitor since 2003, he is the first Korean generation of standup martial arts and a veteran fighter of 45 matches, 29 wins, 14 losses and 2 draws in standup martial arts. Hopefully, Yoo’s kickboxing skills will come through well in this match-up.

Myung has been on fire recently, dabbling in kickboxing for the last couple of years. “The Iron Gentleman” is currently riding a five-fight winning streak in kickboxing and has been far more active, having fought all of those five victories over the last two years. His last fight was two months ago in December when he KO’d Nisei Yamada in just 49 seconds of the first round. Four out of five wins have been finishes as Myung will be looking to extend his winning ways against Yoo.

His last MMA fight was back in 2017 where he finished Chris Bennett for the second time in an anticipated rematch. Myung’s highest-profile fight was against the legendary Mirko Filipović or better known as Mirko “Cro Cop” when they met back in 2016 at the Rizin promotion. “The Iron Gentleman” fell short against “Cro Cop” by first-round arm-triangle choke.