Deep Jewels Featherweight Champion Seo Hee Ham earned a dominant Unanimous Decision victory tonight at Road Fighting Championship 18 in Seoul, South Korea. The gifted striker showcased her underrated ground game in an impressive win over Alyona Rassohyna in the co-main event.
Also on the card, talented prospect Ji Yeon Kim scored her first MMA win with a quick submission victory over Japanese kickboxer Yukimi Kamikaze. Kim, who previously fought to close Draws with Japanese stars Shizuka Sugiyama and Takayo Hashi, easily dispatched of Kamikaze tonight.
Ham (14-5-0) caught two body kicks from Rassohyna (10-4-0) early on and she tripped the Ukrainian to the mat on both occasions. The fight returned to the feet and Ham countered a takedown attempt with a knee. She mounted Rassohyna on the ground, but Rassohyna swept into top position. Ham locked on a triangle choke and she used it to roll back into mount, but Rassohyna escaped out the back.
On the feet, Ham caught another body kick and knocked Rassohyna down with a left cross. Rassohyna attempted a leglock and Ham countered with hammerfists from the top. She stood up and Rassohyna followed. Ham landed a nice body kick and reversed a takedown. She tried to jump into side control and Rassohyna countered by attacking with a heel hook. The entertaining round ended with Ham working for an arm-triangle choke as Rassohyna wrenched back on her leg in a nasty calf slicer.
Rassohyna slipped while throwing a kick early in round two and Ham took advantage by landing hard punches on the ground. She fought off a heel hook and passed to side control, then locked on a tight arm-triangle choke. Rassohyna eventually escaped and Ham eyed more submissions from the top. She landed punches and hammerfists from mount until Rassohyna scrambled back to half-guard. In the final 30 seconds, Ham mounted Rassohyna again and she dropped punches with both hands until the bell sounded to end the action-packed fight.
All three judges scored the fight for Ham, whose Unanimous Decision victory extended her current winning streak to five. She has tasted defeat just twice in her past 13 fights and both losses came at the hands of former Jewels Lightweight Queen Champion Ayaka Hamasaki. A trilogy bout between Hamasaki and Ham may take place for Ham’s 106-pound Deep Jewels title in the future.
Winner: Seo Hee Ham by Unanimous Decision after two rounds. She improves to 14-5-0.
After taking two of Japan’s finest female fighters to Draws in her first two pro MMA bouts, Kim (1-0-2) notched her first victory in quick and dominant fashion tonight. Both women landed right hands early in the 60kg catchweight fight and Kim scored with a combination to the head and body. She clinched and took Kamikaze’s (0-1-0) back, then dragged her to the mat. From there, Kim trapped Kamikaze in a body triangle and landed punches until she was able to secure a rear-naked choke for the tapout win.
Winner: Ji Yeon Kim by Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) at 1:59 of round one. She improves to 1-0-2.