At age 46, 'Sexy Yama' to return to MMA octagon after over a year

Eduard Folayang, left, and Choo Sung-hoon in a promotional poster for the ONE Championship 163 event on April 29. Courtesy of ONE Championship

By Ko Dong-hwan

Mixed martial artist (MMA) Choo Sung-hoon, 46, also known by his Japanese name Yoshihiro Akiyama, will return to the octagon ring to face a 37-year-old Filipino fighter after 14 months of hiatus.

The fourth-generation Japanese of Korean descent will fight former lightweight champion Eduard Folayang on April 29 in ONE Championship's 163rd co-main event. U.S. TV network TNT will broadcast the bout nationwide.

The last MMA fight for the judo Asian Game gold medalist was held in February 2020 against Egypt's Sherif Mohamed for “One Championship 109: King of the Jungle.” Choo knocked out Mohamed three minutes and four seconds into the first round. What attracted spectators' attention other than the fight was the small flags of Korea and Japan stitched into his red shorts.

Choo's last fight that was broadcast to U.S. TV viewers was from February 2012, when he faced America's Jake Shields to whom he lost in a unanimous decision. The fight, part of Ultimate Fighting Championship's 144th event at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, was ordered on pay-per-view by some 375,000 TNT subscribers.

UFC144 had promoted “Sexy Yama” by placing him at the top of its poster. Felix Chiang from ONE Championship said Choo will receive similar promotional support for the upcoming match.

After Shields, Choo had fought two more UFC fights that were broadcasted only for those with a paid membership to the UFC website. In those fights, he won over America's Amir Sadollah in 2014 in unanimous decision, and lost to Alberto Mina from Brazil the following year in a split decision.

Choo, left, fights Brazil's Alberto Mina in "UFC Fight Night 79" at KSPO Dome in Seoul on Nov. 28, 2015. Yonhap

“Choo had shown American viewers how sexy Asian fighters like himself can showcase one hell of a bloody exciting sport,” said Chiang, raising anticipation for Choo's upcoming TNT broadcast.

The April fight is Choo's debut in the lightweight (-70 kilograms) class. He had first rumbled among middleweights (-84 kilograms) but in 2012 changed to welterweight (-77 kilograms). When he conquered the 2001 Judo Union of Asia's championship and the 2002 Busan Asian Games, his class was -81 kilograms.

His latest change of class, according to Chiang, was Choo's “healthiest” option because ONE Championship, unlike other MMA organizations, regulates athletes' weights even during training and up to the day before a match to prevent them from excessively dehydrating themselves to force weight loss to pass weigh-in. Lightweight athletes participating in ONE mustn't weigh over 83.9 kilograms during training or 77.1 kilograms the day before a match.

“Excessive dehydration in a short period of time is hazardous to health, especially when you are getting old,” Chiang said. “To maintain good health throughout his fighting career, ONE's lightweight class must have been Choo's optimal field.”

The Osaka-based fighter is popular among Korean TV viewers who used to watch him in the KBS reality TV show “Superman Returns,” which showed the parenting of celebrities. Appearing in other TV variety shows, Choo earned credit also as a good-humored yet masculine TV personality who shone alongside his wife Shiho Yano, a popular Japanese model, and daughter Choo Sa-rang.