“Making his way into the red corner… Seungju Andrew Kim.”
Andrew Kim made his way to the Monday Night Brewing Garage cage Friday night with “Right Above It” by Lil Wayne blaring over the speakers. He shuffled around the cage, stared down his opponent and prepared for a battle.
Kim, who was making his debut in Mixed Martial Arts, faced off against fellow debutant Lee Alarcon in a three-round bout.
The cage doors locked and it was time to see if all the years of hard work and intense training would pay off.
The two came out full force, both landing a plethora of big shots. Neither was backing down from the initial adversity.
Early in the first round, Kim was taken down, but due to an illegal head strike thrown by Alarcon, the ref stood the two back up and deducted a point from Alarcon.
Shortly after, Alarcon landed a shot that popped Kim’s contact out, which halted the bout. Kim, unable to put the contact in, decided to continue with impaired vision. This seemed to have little to no influence over his performance.
A right cross landed flush on Alarcon’s chin, dropping his opponent in the middle of the first round. Kim’s supporters in attendance erupted into cheers.
Alarcon recovered, and after Kim landed some big body shots on the ground (NFC rules prevent any head strikes on the ground), the bell sounded and brought an intense first round to an end.
Round 2 opened up similar to the first, with the two exchanging big shots. Kim found himself on the receiving end of some strong right hooks, but the Georgia State student wasn’t going to let anyone beat him.
Alarcon began to load up on his punches, putting tons of force behind them, but through the advice of his corner, Kim began to evade these strikes and his opponent began to tire out.
Kim began to land a plethora of jabs mixed with a couple of leg kicks, and as the round went on, Kim began to dominate.
One minute and 11 seconds into the second round, Kim set his opponent up with a feint left and a massive right hook. The punch landed flush on Alarcon’s chin, dropping him and ending the fight via a Technical Knockout, also earning the first knockout of the evening. The crowd appreciated the show and early stoppage.
Kim’s corner, made up of coaches and training partners from American Top Team, rushed into the cage to celebrate with their fighter, lifting him up into the air. The life-changing final decision came soon after.
“Your winner by technical knockout, Seungju Andrew Kim!”
Kim’s supporters made themselves heard, cheering and screaming at the top of their lungs for their beloved fighter.
Kim was victorious. The years of training had culminated into a beautiful right hook. Kim’s NFC record now stands at 1-0.
