Jun Yong Park made it four wins in a row at UFC Vegas 68. The Korean middleweight did it in some style, systematically breaking down Albert Duraev before submitting him late in the second round.
Park found a home for his jab immediately and seconds into the bout the blood was starting to trickle from Duraev’s nose. The Russian was throwing hard left hooks to the body.
A right hand from Duraev landed flush but Park just walked through it. He was applying constant pressure, moving forwards and firing off lightning fast jabs.
With seconds remaining in the round Park grabbed a kick and looked to take Duraev down but jumped for a guillotine instead. It looked tight but the bell sounded before he could finish the fight.
👍 Duraev survived Park's guillotine attempt to close out the first round! #UFCVegas77 pic.twitter.com/g9kHCzEHe6
— UFC (@ufc) July 16, 2023
Buried deep
Park fired off more jabs at the start of the second round but Duraev changed his tactics and shot for a double leg takedown. He couldn’t keep the Korean there and both men were soon back on their feet.
Park continued to score with jabs and started to follow up with straight rights. A left hook to the body hurt Duraev who was in defensive mode as the Korean moved in for the kill, dropping him with more hard punches.
He looked to finish the fight with ground and pound but Duraev had given up his back and Park looked for the rear naked choke. There was still plenty of time in the round but the Russian was intelligently defending the submission.
After multiple adjustments Park finally got his forearms buried deep under the Russian’s chin. The tap came at the 4:45 mark and Park now has seven wins from his nine UFC fights.
DO NOT SLEEP ON THE IRON TURTLE 🐢
Junyong Park with the finish and the shimmy 🕺 #UFCVegas77 pic.twitter.com/hYeENz3DXz
— UFC (@ufc) July 16, 2023
Extremely diplomatic
With the win Park improves to 17-5 and will surely break into the top 15 at middleweight having scored four victories in a row. This was the third fight in succession that he has won with a rear naked choke with the Korean having finished Denis Tiuliulin with the same submission at UFC Vegas 68 earlier this year.
Duraev, who drops to 16-5, only had two UFC wins to his name coming into this contest. Park is surely due a shot at one of the ranked middleweights but was extremely diplomatic after the fight telling Daniel Cormier,
“I am a UFC employee. I do not choose my opponents”
🇰🇷 Another win for Junyong Park! #UFCVegas77 pic.twitter.com/phyH5ORFOd
— UFC (@ufc) July 16, 2023
Best of the rest
Coming soon…
UFC Vegas 77, July 15th, Las Vegas
Francisco Prado def. Ottman Azaitar via TKO (Spinning back elbow and punches) at 4:05 of R1
Jun Yong Park def. Albert Duraev via Submission (Rear-naked choke) at 4:45 of R2
Norma Dumont def. Chelsea Chandler via Decision (Unanimous)
Nazim Sadykhov def. Terrance McKinney via Submission (Rear-naked choke) at 1:07 of R2
Melsik Baghdasaryan def. Tucker Lutz via Decision (Unanimous)
Viktoriya Dudakova def. Istela Nunes via TKO (Arm injury) at 0:34 of R1
Melquizael Costa def. Austin Lingo via Decision (Unanimous)
Evan Elder def. Genaro Valdez via Decision (Unanimous)
Azat Maksum def. Tyson Nam via Decision (Split)
Alexander Munoz def. Carl Deaton III via Decision (Unanimous)
Ailín Pérez def. Ashlee Evans-Smith via Decision (Unanimous)
