Ok Rae-yoon to face off against former UFC champion Alvarez

Eddie Alvarez and Ok Rae-yoon in a promotional poster for their bout scheduled for April 28. Courtesy of ONE Championship

By Ko Dong-hwan

Korean mixed martial artist Ok Rae-yoon will face off against former UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez, April 28.

The match in Singapore is a co-main event of the 165th ONE Championship event, which will be broadcast live on TNT across the United States. The network has over 89.5 million subscribers, according to ONE.

Ok, 30, most recently beat former ONE featherweight champion Marat Gafurov, 37, from Russia at Singapore Indoor Stadium in a unanimous decision, April 21.

Ok from Team MAD, a fighters' agency in Busan, took the lightweight title at Japan's HEAT Championship in May 2018 and in Korea's Double G Championship in November 2020.

If Ok defeats Alvarez, he will BE one step closer to taking the ONE title as well ― and become only the second Korean to beat a former UFC champion since Jung Chan-sung, better known as "the Korean Zombie," who beat former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar in December 2019.

ONE said that until the upcoming fight on Wednesday, nine Koreans have fought UFC title-holders in 11 matches, but have won just two.

Site Map E-paper Subscribe Register LogIn
Site Map E-paper Subscribe Register LogIn