Seung Woo Choi could be fighting for his UFC future when he makes the walk to the octagon in Singapore this Saturday. He is on a 3-fight skid for the first time in his career but remains calm ahead of his do-or-die clash with Jarno Errens.
“I’m trying to maintain my cool before the fight,” said Choi at media day on Sentosa Island.
Surprisingly he feels less pressure ahead of this fight then he did heading into his UFC 281 meeting with Michael Trizano,
“When I lost twice in a row I did feel pressure, but after the third loss I kind of let everything go. I don’t really feel that pressure, I feel much more relaxed, so I feel I am able to focus on this fight and not feel pressure and enjoy the fight,” he explained.
Errens has never won a UFC fight. He lost his debut by majority decision and Choi doesn’t sound very impressed by what he has seen of the Dutchman,
“I’m definitely tougher than my opponent and in every department like striking, wrestling and cardio I’m better than my opponent,” he said.
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Inspiration and advice
Choi has been training with Chan Sung Jung. The Korean Zombie headlines the UFC Singapore card and he is taking inspiration from the veteran featherweight,
“Everyday when I woke up and trained with him I’m inspired because he’s been in the top ranking for over a decade. So whenever I trained with him and looked over at him I was able to overcome any hardships that came within the camp. It was a very important and happy time for me to be able to train with The Korean Zombie,” he said.
The Korean Zombie has not just been a source of inspiration for Choi. He has also given him some valuable advice,
“He helped a lot with strategy, gave me a lot of great feedback and the gym that he has is amazing. It has an octagon in it and a sauna which helped with the recovery as well, so overall it was a great camp.”
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Long reach
Choi was unfortunate to drop a split decision to Josh Culibao at UFC 275 last year. He will return to the Singapore Indoor Stadium this weekend and sounds confident of securing a more satisfactory outcome.
Standing 6’0″ he is one of the tallest fighters in the division. Despite competing in the same division as The Korean Zombie he has a very different physique and it sounds like his gameplan will revolve around using that,
“I have a better reach. I think my strength is I have a long reach, so I try to focus on that. I base all the strategies on that fact that I have a long reach and I try to stay cool and calm in the fight.”
Both Koreans could be competing in the UFC for the final time but for very different reasons. Chan Sun Jung has said he will retire if his performance isn’t up to expectations while Choi is probably one loss away from being released.
The pressure is on even if he doesn’t want to admit it. But Choi plans to dispense of Errens in the first fight on the card and then watch his mentor win in the final bout of the night.
