Road FC Women’s Atomweight Champion Seo Hee Ham retained her title with a hard-fought Unanimous Decision victory tonight at Road Fighting Championship 51 in Seoul, South Korea. Ham defeated challenger Jeong Eun “Little Wolf” Park in the competitive three-round main event.
Ham, who previously knocked out Invicta FC champion Jinh Yu Frey one year ago, had a much tougher fight on her hands tonight, but her superior striking and ground and pound propelled her to victory. In the action-packed co-main event, Su-Yeon Lee made a successful debut against Ye Ji Lee.
Ham cracked Park with straight left hands in the opening minute and used feints to keep her guessing. The fighters traded combinations and Ham landed another left cross that snapped Park’s head back. Park scored with a head kick and Ham rushed in with a quick flurry. As the round progressed, Park reversed a clinch against the cage and both women tried for trip takedowns. Ham ultimately got Park down and she landed punches as Park stood back up before the bell.
Ham was more aggressive in the second round and she landed a kick-punch combo followed by a series of lunging hooks. Park responded with a body kick and a right hand of her own as Ham walked her down. The fighters traded jabs and Ham landed another combination of kicks and punches. Park clinched after Ham blasted her with a five-punch flurry, but Ham kept the pressure on with knees to the body. Park broke free and landed a body kick, but Ham backed her up against the cage with another series of power punches. Park threw a body kick, but Ham caught it and landed a lead right uppercut. In the final 15 seconds, Park attempted a throw, but Ham reversed it in mid-air and landed on top. She closed out the round with ground and pound.
Park shot in for a takedown and got Ham down in the final round, but Ham used a kimura attempt to transition to back control. Park scrambled out the back and wound up on top again with Ham against the base of the cage. Ham stood and she reversed a throw into mount, but Park battled back to half-guard. Ham struck from the top until Park attacked with a kneebar, which was fully extended at one point, but Ham remained calm and she dropped hammerfists from back control until she was able to set up a rear-naked choke. Park scrambled free and tried for an armbar from the bottom. The fighters were stood up with one minute to go and Park landed a combination, but Ham answered back with one of her own and the fight ended with Ham landing knees in a clinch.
Winner: Seo Hee Ham by Unanimous Decision after three 5:00 rounds. She improves to 20-8-0 and remains the Road FC Women’s Atomweight Champion.
The all-female Road FC 51 main card also featured a frenetic brawl between the debuting Su-Yeon Lee (1-0-0) and 19-year-old promotional mainstay Ye Ji Lee (3-5-0), which was dominated by Ye Ji early on. Despite considerable facial swelling from the force of Ye Ji’s punches, Su-Yeon battled back in round two and the pair engaged in a wild brawl before Su-Yeon was able to secure a crucial takedown. She spent the remainder of the round landing strikes from the top and threatening with rear-naked choke attempts. Su-Yeon’s strong second round was just enough to earn her a narrow Split Decision victory.
Elsewhere on the card, Yu Ri Shim (5-2-0) stopped Ming Shi (2-3-0) with a barrage of standing knee strikes at the 4:08 mark of round two in atomweight action. Rowan Pilger (1-0-0) took a contentious Unanimous Decision win over Young Ji Kim (1-4-0) in a 141-pound catchweight contest, and Yoon Ha “Cage Vixen” Hong (2-4-0) submitted an overmatched Hyun Ju Baek (0-4-0) with a rear-naked choke at the 1:44 mark of round one in the atomweight main-card opener.