Deep Jewels Featherweight Champion Seo Hee Ham competes in her home country for the first time in her MMA career at Road Fighting Championship Korea 3: “Nations Fight: Korea vs Brazil” on April 6th in Seoul, South Korea. Ham is scheduled to face teen prospect Shino VanHoose on the card.
The 105-pound bout between Ham and VanHoose was officially confirmed this week following an announcement from VanHoose. Ham has won three straight fights and captured Jewels title gold in May. VanHoose recently relocated to the U.S. and she competes for the first time since late 2012.
Ham (12-5-0) has been South Korea’s premier female mixed martial artist dating back to her February 2007 MMA debut when she upset Deep champion Hisae Watanabe. She spent much of her career competing at 115 pounds and twice challenged unsuccessfully for the Jewels Lightweight Queen Championship. Following a lengthy layoff that included time rehabbing a back injury, Ham returned to MMA this past April and scored her first submission win. One month later, she dropped down in weight and defeated Naho “Sugi Rock” Sugiyama to become the final Jewels Featherweight Queen Champion.
When Jewels merged with Deep to form Deep Jewels this past summer, Ham’s title was renamed the Deep Jewels Featherweight Championship. She retained her belt in November by outpointing Sadae “Manhoef” Numata. Ham remains one of the most technically skilled female strikers in MMA and she now competes in her home country for the first time in her mixed martial arts career.
VanHoose (3-2-0) made her MMA debut at age 16 in October 2011 after gaining experience in Japanese grappling tournaments. She needed just 51 seconds to choke out Nana “Chanchin” Ichikawa with a rarely-seen Ezekiel choke at Pancrase Impressive Tour 10 and debuted for Jewels two months later at Jewels: “17th Ring.” Facing the more experienced Asami Higa, VanHoose picked up a hard-fought Unanimous Decision victory on the card, and she extended her winning streak to three by submitting Kimie “Sakura” Okada at Pancrase Progress Tour 3.
Following her third career win, VanHoose took a big step up in competition to face former Jewels title contender Kikuyo Ishikawa at Pancrase Progress Tour 6, but dropped a Unanimous Decision. She suffered her second career defeat at Pancrase Progress Tour 12 when she was submitted by Numata. Since then, VanHoose moved back to the United States in hopes of finding fights on a more regular basis. With opportunities proving to be limited, she opted to take a fight against Ham next month.
Road Fighting Championship Korea 3: “Nations Fight: Korea vs Brazil” takes place on April 6th at the Grand Hilton Seoul Convention Center in Seoul, South Korea. The atomweight bout between Ham and VanHoose will be a part of the featured main card.