Lim Chi Bin vs Su Hwan Lee 2009

Here is the promised bout between Lim Chi Bin and Su Hwan Lee.

This was in the finals of the K-1 MAX Korea tournament in 2009. Korea produces very technically refined fighters, though no very dominant ones. Perhaps they lack the brutality and toughness characteristic of most high level Muay Thai fighters. This video is actually a good place to start inquiring into that because these two are Korea's finest home grown kickboxers.

Lim Chi Bin has been fighting K-1 and Muay Thai for a long while. His first major fight was against none other than Masato in the round of 16 for the K-1 MAX tournament in 2005. He came up short then and has had a mixed record in K-1 since. Lim shows improvement throughout his fights, particularly in his boxing, and is a mainstay in the K-1 lineup because of his popularity in the Korean market. As mentioned in the Kido vs Lim post, he is a little small for 70 kg, and his last superfight at the MAX Final 16 2010 in Seoul, where he put on a very good showing, was at 67 kg. His technical style and decent power means even top opponents have to be on their game to beat him convincingly.

Su Hwan Lee is a big Korean lad, standing at a broad-shouldered 180 cm (5'11"). He has the ingredients to pose problems for a lot of fighters because, on top of his size and technicality, he is a southpaw with a penchant for distance fighting. We saw an example of a devastating distance fighter in Nong-O Sit-Or in the last post, and fighters like Masato and Badr Hari would be considered distance fighters in the K-1 ruleset, though under Muay Thai rules, Buakaw Por Pramuk and Gevorg Petrosyan are more typical, using kicks, teeps, and jabs, and the occasional long knee before utilizing a powerful clinch game to force the fight back to a distance.

These fighters had met twice before with Su winning by 1st round KO in 2007 and Lim winning by 3rd round TKO in 2006. In this bout, Lim fights out of the red corner and Su the blue.

Yasuhiro Kido vs Lim Chi Bin 2008

Yasuhiro Kido burst on the K-1 MAX scene after unexpectedly winning the Japan MAX tournament in 2008. He's a tall, lanky fighter capable of exploding and stringing up long-range attacks in quick succession. He looks to be about 5' 11" and therefore has a significant reach and height advantage over his opponent, Lim Chi Bin. Lim won the 2008 K-1 MAX Korea tournament for his spot against Kido. Lim uses very good Muay Thai fundamentals in combination with solid boxing to form a style well-suited for K-1. He tends to put emphasis on his crisp punches, which leads to some exciting knockouts. Lim looks to give up a good 3" or so to Kido in this matchup.

This fight was on September 24, 2008, in the elimination round of 16 for the 2008 K-1 MAX tournament. Kido wears blue gloves, Lim red.