In a battle between welterweight veterans, Dong-Hyun Kim took on Josh Burkman at UFC 187. It was a deceptively important fight between two experienced grapplers who were desperately looking to secure their footing in the stacked welterweight division.
After a back-and-forth first round, Kim asserted himself in a big way in the second, dominating Burkman along the cage and bullying him on the ground. While Burkman mustered up a strong offensive volley in the third, Kim would retake the fight, muscling Burkman back to the ground and locking him up with an arm-triangle choke for the submission finish.
So what did we learn from this fight?
"Gunslinger" Kim Is Gone, and That's Good
Kim has been a good fighter for a long time, but he never quite jelled with UFC brass due to his grinding style. In an attempt to fix that, Kim adopted a Rambo-like striking attack, swinging early, hard, often and without thought. While that resulted in two brutal knockouts of Erick Silva and John Hathaway, it came as no surprise that the high-risk style eventually led to a brutal loss at the hands of Tyron Woodley.
The big, long-term question with Kim entering this fight was which version of Kim would show up against Burkman. Well, it was the old, methodical Kim.
That's for the best, of course. Dong-Hyun Rambo may have provided some great highlights, but his staying power as a top welterweight was non-existent. This version of Kim is a troublesome opponent for anybody at 170 pounds. Hopefully, he knows it.
Josh Burkman Just Plain Isn't a Top Welterweight
Comebacks are all the rage these days. Matt Brown, Robbie Lawler, Andrei Arlovski...the list goes on. The former Mr. Arianny Celeste wanted to be a part of that group but, alas, it wasn't meant to be.
Burkman came up well shy of beating Kim and, save a 20-second spree of offense, never really felt like he was in control of this fight. Worse yet, the size, weight and strength differential with Kim was obvious from bell to bell as Kim outright bullied Burkman throughout the fight.
The People's Warrior can still get wins in the UFC. It just doesn't feel like those wins can come at the expense of Top 10 opponents.
The UFC Is Very Lucky
The UFC put on a stadium show in Sweden earlier this year, and, boy, it did not go well for the local favorites. Every single Swedish fighter, most notably Alexander Gustafsson, lost decisively, and the UFC's long-term viability in Sweden suffered greatly as a result.
Last week, something quite similar happened with the UFC announcing that it was poised to put on its first-ever show in South Korea...right on the heels of an 0-3 Fight Night 66 for its Korean fighters. The UFC needed Kim to win here, and he did it.
Kim, by a mile, is the biggest star in Korean MMA and is the most likely candidate to headline the show in Seoul. Having his footing secure and his future certain is a big, big deal. If Kim, alongside Tae-Hyun Bang, Hyun-Gyu Lim and Yui-Chul Nam, entered the event coming off a loss, it could have led to a UFC on Fox 14-style catastrophe for the promotion.
Burkman Doesn't Have Awesome Cardio
Kim is the kind of fighter who can sap an opponent's strength. He is an absolute master of wearing opponents down with his judo-based clinch attack. That said, Burkman just didn't look up to snuff here.
He had a wide-open window to victory in the third round, clipping Kim with a punch and nailing him with a knee. While Kim was on wobbly legs, Burkman just couldn't summon up enough offense to get the win.
Again, Burkman is a solid fighter, but in this deep welterweight division, a fighter needs to have 15 minutes of hustle to climb up the ladder. If he can't muster that, his shelf life just won't be that long.
