Welterweight champion Bae Myung-Ho will not headline the first AFC event of the year.
During a sparring session in preparation for AFC 10, Bae suffered a spinal injury. In an interview with AFC officials Bae stated,
“I met with my doctor once again today to discuss the possibility of me still moving ahead and competing. He told me I could not. I am very disappointed since I trained very hard for this fight.”
He also added,
“Most of all, I’m sorry for the fans. I promise to quickly recover from my injury and return to the AFC cage.”
This is a bad turn of events for Bae (17-5) since he was originally slated to defend his title for a second time back at AFC 8 only for Rodrigo Caporal to be pulled on the day of weigh-ins after falling ill due to complications during his weight cut.
‘Wolverine’ is currently riding a nine fight win streak, with four of which are under the AFC banner. He is the former Legend FC welterweight champion and holds victories over of likes of Jingliang Li, Cleber Souza and Rodney MacSwain.
With Bae out, the promotion has elevated Lee Sang-Soo and Giacomo Lemos from the co-main event to the headlining position. This matchup will be for the vacant openweight title which was taken from Tilek Zheenbekov due to medical issues.
On top of that, former URCC featherweight champion Lee Do-Gyeom will make his promotional debut against Fumiya Sasaki and ‘Hellboy’ Jang Won-Jun will return after a 19 month break from the cage.
AFC 10 will go down on January 28th in Seoul at Sindorim Techno Mart.
AFC 10, January 28th, Seoul
Lee Sang-Soo vs. Giacomo Lemos (For Vacant AFC Openweight Title)
Lee Do-Gyeom vs. Fumiya Sasaki (Featherweight)
Jang Won-Jun vs TBA (Lightweight)
Ahn Chang-Joo vs TBA (Kickboxing)
