One of the Top 10 Welterweight fighters in the world, Kim, was in an odd position. Without a name opponent, the only thing the South Korean could really do to impress was take out his opponent quickly.
Waters was originally scheduled to fight on the undercard, but an injury to Thiago Alves shook up the whole card. While he was a sizable underdog, this was nonetheless a major opportunity for the young prospect.
Unfortunately for him, it didn’t last long.
Kim opened the bout with a crazy kick in classic “Stun Gun” fashion and nearly had his back taken because of it. Nonetheless, Kim worked back into the clinch without much issue, and that’s when Waters made his critical mistake.
As Kenny Florian pointed out, Waters chose to keep engaging the fourth degree Judo black belt in the clinch. Before long, this ended with him getting tossed onto his ass directly into side control.
From that dominant position, Kim immediately moved into the crucifix position. Waters did his best to explode out, but Kim’s control remained absolute as he smacked his opponent with ground strikes and hunted for the Americana.
Eventually, Waters exhausted his energy on his attempts to escape the crucifix and was left barely moving around to absorb shots. None of them were particularly hard, but it was enough for the referee to call the bout.
There’s not a ton to analyze here.
Kim is a fantastic clinch fighter with tremendous strength, and his opponent allowed him to play that game. Once Kim got on top, he immediately transitioned into a position that he’s an expert in, and from there he efficiently finished the fight.
As we already knew, Kim is a top fighter at the moment. The original match up was far more intriguing — and likely competitive — but Kim should definitely square off with another Top 10-ranked opponent in his next match. He called out “easy” Demian Maia for a rematch, but Brazilian jiu-jitsu wozard is on a big win streak with a high-profile match up next in line.
Instead, a match with Neil Magny would make plenty of sense.
While staying in the clinch was a definite error, it probably didn’t matter. Unless he managed to catch Kim with a power punch in a wild exchange, this fight was never going to end well for the short-notice replacement.
Despite the loss, Waters deserves respect for taking this fight at all and should receive another fight. For example, a fight with fellow UFC Seoul main card combatant, Alberto Mina, would make sense, as both fighters are currently at the bottom of the welterweight ranks.
Yesterday, Dong Hyun Kim made quick work of Dominic Waters. Can the South Korean make a title run?
