Deep Jewels Bantamweight Champion Ji Yeon Kim kicked off her Top FC career with a big win tonight at Top Fighting Championship 11: “Top FC vs Kunlun Fight” in Seoul, South Korea. Kim earned a Unanimous Decision victory over China’s top female fighter, Jin “The Fighting Rose” Tang.
Tang got off to a strong start in the early striking exchanges, but a massive right hand from Kim late in round two shifted the momentum in her favour and paved the way to her victory. Also on the card, Weili Zhang kept her winning streak alive by submitting Alice Ardelean in a 120-pound bout.
Kim (5-0-2) pinned Tang (25-9-4) against the cage following an early exchange of punches in tonight’s 130-pound co-feature. Both women landed short knees to the body in close until Kim countered a headlock by taking Tang down. Tang scrambled up and another exchange of power punches ensued. Kim took Tang’s back on the feet, but she was unable to trip Tang to the mat. Tang unloaded with punches and cracked Kim with a big left hook, and she landed more punches in the final 20 seconds.
Round two began with Tang landing leg kicks and one-two combinations. She avoided most of Kim’s counters and lunged in with a lead right hooks. A flurry of punches backed Kim up, but she answered with four hard punches that snapped Tang’s head back. Tang pushed Kim backward again with a series of side kicks to the body, and she countered a takedown attempt from Kim with a guillotine choke. Kim escaped and she flurried with punches, but Tang got the better of the striking exchanges until Kim floored her with a big right hand late in the round. Kim dove on her and landed numerous punches to Tang’s bloodied and seemingly broken nose, but a dazed Tang narrowly survived until the bell.
Tang landed more kicks early in round three, but Kim rocked her with a right hand and a knee. Tang clinched in order to buy time to recover, but Kim landed more punches after breaking free. Kim scored with a hard combination soon after, but Tang answered back with punches in return and she mixed in more kicks to Kim’s lead leg. Kim got Tang down in the final seconds of the fight and that allowed her to finish strong by landing punches from Tang’s guard, including two that connected after the bell sounded.
All three judges scored the fight for Kim, who has now won five straight fights since opening her career with back-to-back Draws against Japanese stars Shizuka Sugiyama and Takayo Hashi. Kim currently holds bantamweight titles for both Deep Jewels and Gladiator, but the 26-year-old has now set her sights on becoming one of the premier competitors on the Top FC roster.
Winner: Ji Yeon Kim by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-29, 29-28) after three rounds. She improves to 5-0-2.
On the preliminary card, Zhang (5-1-0) took short-notice replacement opponent Ardelean (1-5-0) down early in the opening round and she landed short punches from Ardelean’s guard that eventually set up a pass to North-South position. Zhang mounted Ardelean soon after and she battered her with more hard punches from the top. She attempted a mounted triangle armbar in the final minute of the opening round, but Ardelean survived and made it to the bell.
Zhang scored another takedown in round two and she once again landed punches to the head and body from North-South position. Ardelean ate punch after punch until she was finally forced to give up her back. Zhang trapped her in a body triangle and she landed punches and hammerfists until she was able to lock on a rear-naked choke that forced Ardelean to submit.
With tonight’s victory, Zhang extended her streak of finishes to five. She has won back-to-back fights this year and is one of China’s top female prospects.
Winner: Weili Zhang by Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) at 4:41 of round two. She improves to 5-1-0.
(Photo Credit: Deep Jewels)