For diehard JMMA fans, it doesn’t get much better than New Year’s Eve. In the past, we’ve seen Fedor vs Nogueira, Sapp vs Akebono (that got a record setting 43% audience rating), Masato vs Kid, Aoki flick off Hirota, and Tenshin vs Mayweather. [1] While the main story this year is clearly the Rizin versus Bellator angle, another important match is set to go down in the Super Atomweight Tournament Finals between Seika Izawa and Si Woo Park.
This match, a rematch from last year, will not only decide who wins the tournament, it will also likely determine the best Atomweight in the world. Park for her part, has been grinding away in Japan since 2018, fighting the best the country has to offer across a variety of rulesets. Winning this tournament, would be the highlight of her career so far and could help her reach her ultimate goal of fighting in the UFC.
From Yankee to MMA
Originally from Busan, Park has been involved in sports in one way or another since she was a kid. When she was in junior high school, she started playing soccer. According to her, she was pretty good and could have kept playing, but decided not to. She told Dropkick magazine that she was kind of a delinquent in junior high school. In addition to quitting soccer, she also dropped out of school. [2] For those familiar with Japanese culture, she described herself as a yankee, a term used to describe certain rebellious youngsters. [3] Around this time, she started going to night school and it was there that she got involved in Taekwondo. Afterwards, she got accepted into college, but quit after one year.
Since she was a 4th dan in Taekwondo, she moved to Seoul and became a coach. [4] While there, she was introduced to kickboxing and started competing regularly, though it was still a hobby. This type of kickboxing was influenced by Taekwondo and in her words it was point-based fighting, not actual fighting. However, she did win golds at the 2012 WAKO Asian Championships and the 2013 Incheon Indoor Martial Arts Games. It also took her to India and Turkey. [5] [6]
At around 24, Park moved back to Busan. While there, one of her friends, Nam Jin Jo, introduced her to Team Mad, a MMA gym. At the time, Ham Seo Hee was the only woman at there. Park knew about Ham. She had heard about her when she was in Seoul. She had heard that Ham was the best fighter in Asia. When asked about first meeting and training with Ham, Park told MMAPlanet that she felt that she’d never met anyone stronger and that she wanted to learn everything she could from her. [7] While training with Ham, Park developed her own dreams of becoming a professional fighter.
From Korea to Japan
Due primarily to a lack of opportunity, there is a long history of Korean fighters competing in Japan, especially those from Team Mad. Fighters like Dong Hyun Kim, Choi Doo-ho, and Kyung Ho Kang all fought in Japan prior to going to the UFC. In fact, it was Kim who brought all-time great and pioneer Ham to Japan, as Deep had asked him if he knew any women that could compete. [8] 11 years later, Ham accompanied her training partner, who was being called “Little Ham Seo Hee” for her first fight in Japan. [9] While Si Woo Park lost that fight, dropping her record to an unimpressive 0-2, it was just the beginning of what would become a storied career in the land of the rising sun. To date, the striker has only competed in two MMA fights on her native soil, with all the rest happening in Japan.
Turning things around
Despite losing her first 2 fights, Park returned to Japan 3 months later to face Emi Tomimatsu, a former champion and an established veteran with more than 12 years experience. Going into the fight, Park was obviously upset about how things had gone, so thinking that this was her last chance, she trained harder than before, so that she wouldn’t have any regrets. [10] It paid off, as she overwhelmed Tomimatsu, keeping her at bay with strikes and quickly getting up when taken down. In the end, the judges scored it 30-27 for the striker. [11] Following this win, Park returned to Korea and won what is to date her last fight on Korean soil 3 months later.
Much like her training partner, Park has competed across a variety rulesets. In fact, she faced the top ranked Muay Thai fighter Saya Ito, who famously fought Tenshin when they were children, in 2014. [12] In 2019, she made her return to kickboxing against the up-and-coming Panchan Rina. Park ended up losing a decision to the now alleged fraudster. Perhaps realizing that she should focus on one thing, this was the last time Park fought under a ruleset outside of MMA. In fact, Panchan tried to arrange a rematch last year [13], but Park responded that she’s a MMA fighter and that if Panchan wants to fight her again, she needs to come to MMA. [14]
After her final foray into kickboxing, Park returned to MMA and put the entire division on notice. Pitted against the talented wrestler Hikaru Aono, who was coming off 2 submission victories, Park devastated her with strikes and finished her in the first round. [15] She followed this up with another one-sided performance, this time against Saori Oshima, who had serious issues dealing with Park’s reach and striking. With performances like these, Park, who was now living in Japan and training at Krazy Bee because of the pandemic, was an obvious choice to take part in the Deep Jewels Atomweight Tournament. She was also one of the favorites to win.
Hitting some roadblocks
In the tournament, Park easily defeated Nisse and looked to be on her way to another victory over Oshima, when she dropped Oshima with a big punch. Unfortunately for Park, caught up in the excitement, she dived into Oshima’s guard in an attempt to finish her off, but this led to her getting caught in an armbar. Not one to slow down, two months later, it was announced that Park was scheduled to face Seika Izawa at Deep 104. [16]
This matchup was significant for several reasons. First, the fight was scheduled for 49kg, which is not a division in Deep or Deep Jewels. However, it is a division in Rizin and as a result of the pandemic, Rizin was having to look for fighters within Japan. Second, despite being 3-0, Izawa had already won the Deep Jewels Strawweight title and Park was still clearly a top contender in the Deep Jewels Atomweight Division, having defeated the newly crowned champion just 6 months before she won the title. With Izawa dropping down and the Deep Jewels Atomweight champion being a training partner of the Rizin champion, there was a feeling that the winner of this match would likely face Hamasaki in the near future.
Unfortunately, the Izawa-Park match was marred by a foul, when Park kicked Izawa in the head, while Izawa was on the ground. This is unfortunate for Park in that outside of being a foul, it led to a 2-point deduction. [17] Without this deduction, the fight would’ve been scored a split-decision, with 1 judge giving the fight to Park (29-28) and the other 2 giving it to Izawa (29-28; 29-28). As the unaltered scores indicate, the fight was incredibly close, with Park landing the more damaging strikes and Izawa getting her to the ground. However, Park proved hard to keep down and repeatedly got back to her feet, a testament to her training with multiple-time world champion wrestler Miyuu Yamamoto.
Getting to the big stage
Despite losing two big fights in a row, Park looked impressive in those matches and with Rizin unable to bring in fighters from abroad, Park made her Rizin debut just 2 months after facing Izawa, on the annual Rizin NYE show, her 4th fight that year. Her opponent was Rena, the fighter that is perhaps most responsible for women being in Rizin in the first place and who has historically gotten some of the highest ratings in the promotion. [18]
Outside of fighting a high-profile opponent in the country’s biggest promotion on their biggest event of the year, this fight had other significance for Park. Rena was coming off of a TKO victory over Miyuu, had submitted Miyuu years before, and had defeated Ham in Shoot Boxing. In other words, Park was also fighting to avenge two of her mentors. In the lead up to the match, Park said the following, “I practice at KRAZY BEE now and was very frustrated watching that match (Miyuu vs Rena). I wanna get revenge.” [19] Utilizing a smart strategy, Park was able to strike in bursts and use clinches to neutralize Rena’s striking. While it was a close fight, the judges all ruled in Park’s favor, her biggest win to that point.
Another tournament
The same night that Park defeated Rena, her old opponent Izawa turned the Super Atomweight division on its head by finishing Ayaka Hamasaki. 4 months later, when Park defeated fellow Rizin veteran Aira Koga in Deep, Izawa defeated Hamasaki again to win the championship. In her post-fight speech, she asked Rizin CEO Sakakibara to put on a women’s tournament that year, something that had been rumored to be in the works for awhile. It was also around this time that Park returned to Korea for visa reasons and started training at Team Mad again.
In July, the tournament was made official, with the current champion Izawa, former champion Hamasaki, Rena and Kanna all set to take on 4 non-Japanese fighters in the opening round, including Park. [20] When asked about being in the tournament, Park commented, “This is my second tournament, after the Deep Jewels tournament. Back then, I was sure I’d win the championship, but I failed. It was hard to accept that reality, but I picked myself up quickly and kept moving forward.” [21]
In the opening round, Park was pitted again the winner of Rizin’s first Super Atomweight Tournament, Kanna Asakura. A popular fighter with a big social media following, Asakura was another high profile opponent. Not only that, the two used to train together and were friendly. Ahead of the match, Park addressed their friendship, “Kanna was my training partner, and we even went out to eat together, but when it comes to this match, our personal feelings have nothing to do with it, it is up to me to see who can perform better and show what I can do. I am aiming higher, not just this tournament.” [22] Park dominated Asakura, landing harder and harder shots as the fight went on. Near the end, Asakura looked exhausted and Park looked one big strike away from finishing it.
Onto the finals
Following her victory over Asakura, Park went onto to face the former champion and former consensus #1 Atomweight, Ayaka Hamasaki. Like she did in the Rena fight, Park showed that she can follow her game plan and force her opponent to fight on her terms. Against the former champion, Park stayed circling on the outside, in kicking range, forcing the grappler to come to her. As Hamasaki came forward with her own strikes, Park either countered or circled away, forcing Hamasaki to chase her and not really giving her a good chance to get her down. This all culminated in the final round when Park dropped Hamasaki with a big overhand right. Showing that she learned from the loss to Oshima, Park refused to follow Hamasaki to the ground and made her get back on her feet, where she continued to land from range, ultimately winning by unanimous decision. With this win, Park is now set to face Izawa again, this time in the finals.
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