At long, long last, the UFC is set to touch down in South Korea.
It's been a long time coming, of course. Ever since Chan-Sung Jung, the Korean Zombie, posted one of the most thrilling fights in MMA history back at WEC 48, the small-but-populous nation has been a hotbed for MMA talent. Whether it's freak-show star Hong-Man Choi or actual top-10 names like Dong-Hyun Kim and Yoshihiro Akiyama, Korea has had the talent to sustain a lengthy UFC presence.
With most of the Korean talent on the roster present and accounted for, the UFC has come up with a deceptively strong lineup of fights. Now it just needs the fighters to do their part on Saturday.
Naturally, though, the fighters aren't really looking out for the UFC when they step into the cage. They're looking out for themselves.
Nearly every fighter on this card has a lot on the line, but three men in particular have a fire lit underneath their chair. So, who is on the hot seat in Seoul this weekend? Read on to find out!
Alberto Mina
Who is Alberto Mina? That's a question most fans are asking right now, and it's a question that the Brazilian has an opportunity to answer at Fight Night 79.
Mina has lucked his way into a golden-ticket fight. In spite of having just one UFC win to his name, he is set to face a name-brand opponent in Yoshihiro Akiyama. Akiyama has taken the idea of a part-time schedule to the extreme, fighting just once since February 2012. Despite that, MMA's undisputed king of swag remains a standout name.
Years of inactivity, however, will take the edge off any fighter, and Sexyama wasn't an elite talent to begin with. Mina has the chance to really make a splash here against a vulnerable opponent, or get upstaged by a 40-year old part-timer.
Dong-Hyun Kim
Dong-Hyun Kim's (Stun Gun, the welterweight, not the other Dong-Hyun Kim they just signed) place in American MMA has never been clear. He has scored wins over big names and has posted highlight-reel knockouts, but he has never, ever factored into the UFC's plans for the welterweight division.
That's only in American MMA, though. In Korean MMA, he is the biggest star in the sport by a country mile and is about to step into the cage on Korean shores for the first time since 2004.
Regardless of the opponent, that's a huge amount of pressure, but Kim is set to face the unknown Dominic Waters. While that's an acorn squash of a match on paper, those fights come with a fair bit of risk in their own right. If Kim doesn't crush Waters, it's a bad look in its own right. If he loses? It could be a turning point in his career.
Benson Henderson
This is the big one, folks. Ben Henderson is on the last UFC match of an eight-fight contract signed back in 2013. His final opponent? Jorge Masvidal.
All indications are that Henderson is looking to fight out his contract and then test the open market. As it stands, he is guaranteed to receive emails from the UFC, Bellator, WSOF and One Championship, and it wouldn't be at all surprising for him to get some love notes from Rizin, Road FC and KSW. That's a big deal, but of course, his strength at the bargaining table will be improved greatly be entering the free market riding back-to-back wins.
Masvidal is no easy out, though. A darling of the Japanese scene who became a top lightweight in Strikeforce, he has since carved out a niche as one of the most resilient lightweights in the game. He's a tough, tough opponent for anyone and could be a terrible stylistic matchup for Bendo.
In a lot of ways, this is the most important fight of Henderson's career, and heck, this could be one of 2015's most important fights from a business perspective. Smooth has the chance to be the first elite-level fighter to enter the free-agent marketplace while still posting wins. There is a lot riding on this fight for him...and quite possibly for every other fighter in the game.
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