Choi Hong-man

Choi Hong-man
Choi Hong-man
Data
Birth Name	Choi Hong-man
Weight class	Heavyweight
nationality	South Koreans
birthday	October 30, 1980
place of birth	Jeju-si
size	2.18 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	19th
Victories	12
Knockout victories	7th
Defeats	6th
draw	0
No value	0

Korean spelling
Hangeul	최홍만
Hanja	崔洪 萬
Revised Romanization	Choe Hong-man
McCune- Reischauer	Ch'oe Hongman
See also : Korean name

Choi Hong-man (born October 30, 1980 in Jeju-si ), often called Hong-man Choi in the West , is a South Korean MMA fighter, former Ssireum wrestler and K-1 fighter. With a body length of 2.18 m and a fighting weight of up to 166 kg, however, it is only an attraction for many fans, similar to the 2.13 m tall and up to 150 kg heavy Nikolai Valujew in boxing . As a Ssirum wrestler, Choi was able to achieve great success thanks to his height, to which he also owes his Korean nickname “Techno Goliath” (he got this nickname because of his hair that was always light blonde until the beginning of 2008). The Japanese call it "Korean Colossus" and "Korean Monster", while in the West and the USA it is more often called "Che-Man" (based on He-Man ). He is the largest and heaviest professional martial artist in the world in the overall package .

K-1 career (2005-2008)

He made his K-1 debut in March 2005 at the World GP 2005 tournament in Seoul . In the first round he defeated the Japanese sumo wrestler Wakashoyo by technical knockout in round 1, in the semifinals Akebono also by TKO in round 1, and in the final the defending champion Kaoklai Kaennorsing on points.

He played his next fight in June 2005 at the World Grand Prix in Japan against the catcher Tom Howard from the USA, whom he knocked out with a knee blow to the head in the first round. Howard suffered a deep laceration on his forehead.

At the World Grand Prix in Hawaii he fought again against Akebono , whom he was able to win again by knocking out in round 1.

At the Final Eliminations 2005 he met Bob Sapp , whom he defeated after three rounds with a majority decision. After two rounds the fight was relatively even. In the third round, Sapp was counted after he received a knee kick from Choi in the head and turned away from him.

In the final tournament of the K-1 World Grand Prix Series 2005 in the Tokyo Dome he met the then two-time, now three-time K-1 world champion Remy Bonjasky , against whom he lost on points. After six wins in a row, it was his first loss in the K-1.

He made his first appearance in 2006 at the World Grand Prix in Las Vegas at the end of April . His opponent was the 1.97 m tall and 130 kg catcher Sylvester "The Predator" Terkay, who had fought a few fights in both K-1 and MMA . After three laps, Choi won on points.

In the 2006 World GP in Seoul , he achieved his most astonishing victory to date, albeit controversial: He beat the reigning K-1 world champion Semmy Schilt with a 2-1 point decision, which, however, many award the home bonus Chois.

At the World GP 2006 in Yokohama he fought a third and last time against Akebono . Choi won by KO in round two.

On September 30, 2006 Choi lost very controversial in the final elimination of the World Grand Prix final against the French Jérôme Le Banner . The bout was tied after three rounds and after an extra round the judges awarded the victory to Le Banner. He said at the following press conference: “He is dangerous, his knees are almost at the level of my head, he is not human! But he's a good guy and I like him, he's very strong, maybe the strongest K-1 fighter, and he's got tough bones - my leg hurt when I kicked him! I am sure that with more experience, no one can knock him out in two years! ” Le Banner, who was filming Asterix at the Olympic Games (film) at the time, did not seem trained in combat. As controversial as Choi's win against Schilt three months earlier, in which many saw the Dutchman as the winner, many saw him as the winner against the untrained Le Banner.

During World Grand Prix in Yokohama on 4 March 2007 conceded Choi his first K. Knockout defeat against American Mighty Mo . In an interview almost six months later, the Korean admitted that he was out of shape in this fight and had not trained at all.

On April 28, 2007 he won a super fight against Mike Malone at the World Grand Prix in Hawaii by knockout in the second round.

On August 5, 2007 at the Asia Grand Prix in Hong Kong he defeated Gary Goodridge with a convincing performance by TKO in round 1. Noteworthy in this fight was his style. So far he has always fought in the left display (normal display), this time in the right display. This was a strategy of his coach, the former K-1 fighter Kin Taiei, who has been looking after him since the beginning of 2006, in order to be able to better block his strong right punching hand in a possible re-match with Mighty Mo.

In the 2007 Final Eliminations on September 29, he defeated Mighty Mo , who had given him the only knockout defeat at that time, with a 2-0 decision on points. But the decision was very controversial, because Choi kicked Mo in the genitals in the second round. However, the referee did not see this and counted Mo. Without this gross mistake, the American would very likely have won clearly on points, as he was able to put a lot of hard hands on Choi's head, while he only scored a few hits. After the fight in the interview, Mighty Mo said, “He seemed a little stronger. I hit him with a few hard blows, really harder than our first fight, but this time he didn't go down, which surprised me. ” In contrast to the first encounter, for which Choi admitted he hadn't trained, this time he worked trained and in shape.

On December 8th, at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2007 final in Tokyo , he met Jérôme Le Banner again . If the first duel was still very even, he was unable to organize the second fight openly. This time the French looked well trained and Choi lost unanimously with a 3-0 decision. Before the fight, he brought a new maximum weight of 166.6 kg on the scales.

After he had played his last fight for the time being on New Year's Eve 2007 (this was according to MMA rules), Choi made his comeback at the K-1 Final Eliminations on September 27, 2008. The opponent was the reigning heavyweight champion Badr Hari from Morocco . The Korean lost the fight by a technical knockout because he was unable to play the extra round due to a rib injury caused by a body hit by the opponent. After three rounds two of the three judges had a draw , the third the Korean in front. In the second round, Choi, who weighed in at a new minimum weight of 149 kg and, according to his own statement, appeared for the first time in eight years without dyed hair, managed the only fallout in the fight when he struck down the Moroccan with a left counterattack this was counted.

At the K-1 final tournament on December 6, 2008 Choi played the first reserve fight against Ray Sefo , which he clearly lost on points.

After three defeats in a row in K-1, K-1 organizer Tanikawa commented on Choi's future in martial arts after the final tournament in early December 2008: “K-1 has become faster, which is increasingly difficult for tall people like Hong-man Choi power to keep up. We'll see if it's better to put him in the MMA in the future. ” Choi has not contested a K-1 fight since that statement.

military service

At the beginning of 2008, Choi was supposed to do his 22 month military service. However, after failing two eye tests, he was released from duty. It was found that the poor eyesight is due to the tumor responsible for its acromegaly . On June 9, 2008, the tumor was surgically removed. The effects of the operation were particularly noticeable in his stature and weight. Before the operation he always weighed between 160 and 166 kg, three months later only 149 kg, and since his long break from martial arts (October 2009 to July 2015) only 140 kg.

MMA career (since 2006)

On December 31, 2006, Choi made his debut in a fight according to the rules of mixed martial arts (Mixed Martial Arts). At the K-1 Dynamite event, he knocked out Bobby Ologun after just 16 seconds of the first round . It was one of the fastest knockouts of all time.

On June 2, 2007, Choi was to fight the former professional wrestler Brock Lesnar , who made his debut in the K-1, at the event "K-1 Dynamite" in the Olympic Stadium in Las Vegas . The fight should have taken place according to MMA rules. Just two weeks before the event, however, it became known that Choi was not granted a license by the California Athletic Commission because a tumor was found in his head. The South Korean chief executive officer, Jeong Yeon-soo, protested against the decision because they knew about the tumor in Japan and Korea and there had never been any problems.

On New Year's Eve 2007, he fought MMA heavyweight champ Fedor Emelianenko in Japan . Emelianenko won the fight by an arm lever after 1.56 minutes of the first round.

On New Year's Eve 2008 at K-1 Dynamite he fought against Mirko Filipović . After a kick in the hollow of the knee by Filipović, who was wearing shoes during the fight, Choi could not get up and lost the fight to a technical knockout.

On May 26th 2009 he defeated the former baseball player José Canseco by TKO after 1:17 minutes of the first round in the quarter finals of the "Super Hulk Tournament" at "DREAM 9" .

At the "DREAM 11" event on October 6, 2009, he lost in the semifinals against the Japanese "Minowaman" in the 2nd round through a pedal.

On July 25, 2015, Choi, who now weighed only 140 kg and looked very thin, made his comeback in MMA at the South Korean organizer ROAD FC after almost six years of inactivity. In the event "ROAD FC 024", however, he lost to Brazilian Carlos Toyota after just under 90 seconds after being knocked out. After Mighty Mo 2007, he was the only one who managed to knock Choi out with head blows.

On December 26, 2015 he competed in the Openweight Tournament "ROAD FC 027" in China. His opponent in the quarterfinals was the Chinese Luo Quanchao. Choi was able to win the fight in the 1st round through TKO and move into the semi-finals.

On April 16, 2016, he defeated the Chinese Aorigele in the semifinals of the Openweight Tournament by TKO in the first round. In the final he will meet Mighty Mo, against whom he fought twice in 2007 in K-1, lost once by knockout and won once on points. With a fighting weight of 157.2 kg, Choi weighed 17 kg more than when he made his comeback in July 2015.

On September 24, 2016, Choi, with a new fighting weight of 161.5 kg, played the final of the Openweight Tournament. Despite intensive preparation for the strong puncher Mighty Mo, who knocked Choi out with a heavy head hit in 2007, Choi could not prevent another knockout defeat by a head hit by Mo.

Others

Since 2006 he has been performing occasionally with the South Korean singer Kang Su-hee as the duet "The Beauty and the Beast" as a rapper .

He has several tattoos . On the left upper arm his family name "Choi", on the left forearm the English lettering "Secret of success is constancy to purpose", which translates as "The secret of success is the constancy of will", and another lettering on the chest " No Pain no gain "(" No pain, no gain ").

He made his debut in the film business in the Japanese film The Legend Of Goemon , released in 2009 .

He currently appears regularly on the Japanese entertainment show Pokémon Smash! ( Japanese ポ ケ モ ン ス マ ッ シ ュ！ ) as a moderator. The program airs every Sunday morning at 7:30 am Japanese time on TV Tokyo .

On January 14, 2016 Choi became a prison sentence convicted of one year on probation. In December 2013, he borrowed a sum of around 84,000 euros from two friends in order to buy expensive wristwatches for himself and his girlfriend. The two acquaintances repeatedly asked him to repay the borrowed money, but he denied having ever received it. Thereupon those concerned filed charges.

title

• 2001: DchozN World Challenge '01
• 2002: King of Iron Fist Tournament '02
• 2003: Jinan Competition '03
• 2003: The General Championship '03
• 2004: Jungwal Competition '04
• 2004: Hamyang Competition '04
• 2005: K-1 WORLD GP 2005 in Seoul Champion

Web links

• Choi Hong-man in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Fighter profile on k-1sport.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ k-1sport.de: fighter profile , accessed on November 14, 2012
2. ↑ k-1sport.de: Choi: I'm fine , September 2007
3. ↑ K-1sport.de: K-1 World Grand Prix 2007 in Hong Kong
4. ↑ K-1 Official Website: Fields K-1 World GP 2007 In Seoul Final16 ( Memento from July 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), (English)
5. ↑ K-1 Official Website: Fields K-1 World GP 2008 In Seoul Final16 ( Memento from April 6, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), (English)
6. ↑ k-1sport.de: K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 Final Elimination
7. ↑ k-1sport.de: K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 Final , December 6, 2008
8. ↑ MMAUniverse: Choi Hong Man to Report to Boot Camp ( Memento of October 21, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on May 26, 2019 (English)
9. ↑ K-1 Official Website: Fields K-1 Premium 2006 Dynamite ( Memento from January 16, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
10. ↑ MMAUniverse: Hong Man Choi - Truth About Tumour ( Memento of November 12, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on May 26, 2019 (English)
11. ↑ MMAUniverse: On Again, Off Again, Fedor NYE Fight Confirmed , November 20, 2007 (English)
12. ↑ k-1sport.de: K-1 Premium 2008 Dynamite , December 31, 2008
13. ↑ k-1sport.de: DREAM.9 Feather Weight Grand Prix 2009 2nd Round , accessed on November 14, 2012
14. ↑ k-1sport.de: DREAM.11 Feather Weight Grand Prix 2009 Final Round , accessed on November 14, 2012
15. ↑ RoadFC Results ROAD FC 030 , accessed April 24, 2016
16. ↑ Fight Network Weigh In ROAD FC 030 ( Memento of the original from April 26, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
17. ↑ fightsport.fr: Star du K-1 et star de la chanson (January 21, 2008) ( Memento of November 26, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (French)
18. ↑ mfight.co.kr: 발끈 최홍만 '바다 하리 그 입 다물라' ( Memento from April 22, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on May 26, 2019 (Korean)
19. ↑ Photo ROAD FC, July 2015
20. ↑ Choi Hong-man in the Internet Movie Database (English)
21. ↑ tv-tokyo.co.jp: Presenters of the TV show Pokémon Smash! ( Memento from November 2, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) (Japanese)
22. ↑ Korean Times, January 14, 2016

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Korean. Choi is the family name here, Hong-man is the first name.