Hongman Choi

Hongman Choi
ChoiHongMan.JPG
BornChoi Hong-man
(1980-10-30) October 30, 1980 (age 42)
Jeju, South Korea
Native name최홍만
Other namesThe Techno Goliath
Korean Colossus
Che Man
NationalitySouth Korea South Korean
Height2.18 m (7 ft 2 in)
Weight159 kg (351 lb; 25 st 1 lb)
DivisionSuper Heavyweight
Reach235 cm (93 in)
StyleMMA, Ssireum
Kickboxing record
Total22
Wins13
By knockout7
Losses9
By knockout3
Mixed martial arts record
Total9
Wins4
By knockout3
By submission1
Losses5
By knockout3
By submission2
Other information
Mixed martial arts record from Sherdog
Hongman Choi
Hangul
최홍만
Hanja
Revised RomanizationChoe Hong-man
McCune–ReischauerCh'oe Hongman

Choi Hong-man (Korean: 최홍만, Hanja: 崔洪萬; born October 30, 1980), often anglicised to Hongman Choi, is a South Korean kickboxer, mixed martial artist, and former ssireum wrestler. In Asia, he is called "Che Man", "Techno Goliath", "Korean Monster" and "Korean Colossus". He won the 2005 K-1 Seoul Grand Prix beating Kaoklai Kaennorsing in the finals. He stands 2.18 m (7 ft 2 in) and weighs 159 kg (351 lb; 25 st 1 lb).

Career

Ssireum (until 2004)

At the 2003 Ssireum Championships, he won the title against his long-time rival Kim Young-hyun. A year later, he reached the final again, where he was defeated by Kim. Across all Combat sport styles, there has never been anywhere a fight of such physical proportions between two athletes. Choi weighed 175.5 kg (387 lb; 27 st 9 lb) standing 2.18 m (7 ft 2 in) tall, Kim weighed 167.8 kg (370 lb; 26 st 6 lb) standing 2.17 m (7 ft 1 in) tall. This even surpasses the WBA heavyweight championship between Nikolay Valuev (2.13 m (7 ft 0 in) at 146.2 kg (322 lb; 23 st 0 lb)) and Jameel McCline (1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) at 121.7 kg (268 lb; 19 st 2 lb)), which is considered a record in boxing in terms of physique. Valuev and McCline brought together 267.9 kg (591 lb; 42 st 3 lb) and 4.11 m (13 ft 6 in), Choi and Kim 343.3 kg (757 lb; 54 st 1 lb) and 4.35 m (14 ft 3 in).

K-1 (2005–2008)

Prepared for his kickboxing career by K-1 fighter Nicholas Pettas, he debuted in K-1 fighting at the World GP 2005 event in Seoul in March, 2005, which he won in the final vs. Kaoklai Kaennorsing. In the Final Elimination he defeated Bob Sapp with a 2–0 decision, eventually losing to Remy Bonjasky in the World Grand Prix Final.

He got his nickname "Techno Goliath" (테크노 골리앗) when he was a ssireum wrestler in South Korea, as after a victory he would dance to techno music. He is referred to on Japanese television and news articles as the 'Korean Monster' (コリアン・モンスター).

He started the season 2006 at the K-1 World GP in Las Vegas with a unanimous decision win over Sylvester Terkay aka "The Predator". His new coach was the former Japanese Korean K-1 fighter Kin Taiei (anglicised to Taiei Kin).

One of Choi's most notable fights was against current K-1 World Champion Semmy Schilt at the World GP 2006 event in Seoul. The fight was unique due to the enormous size and weight of both fighters (Schilt 2.12 m (6 ft 11 in) 128 kg (282 lb; 20 st 2 lb), Choi 2.18 m (7 ft 2 in) 161 kg (355 lb; 25 st 5 lb)). Choi won the fight by 2-0 decision, but it was a disputed win.

On September 30, 2006, Choi fought Jérôme Le Banner in the final eliminations, and lost after 3 Rounds and 1 extra Round on points. After the fight, Le Banner said: "He is dangerous, his knees are already almost at the level of my head, he's not human! But he's a good guy and I like him, he's very tough, maybe the strongest guy in K-1, and he has hard bones -- when I kicked him, it hurt my leg! I'm sure with more experience, in two years no one will be able to knock him out!"

On March 4, 2007, in the World Grand Prix in Yokohama, he was knocked out for the first time in his career. Mighty Mo landed his trademark overhand right to the chin and Choi was not able to stand up again. In this fight he weighed 165.4 kg (365 lb; 26 st 1 lb), was very slow and many say it was his worst performance. Choi himself stated in an interview about six months later: At that time, I was not in shape so that I did not train at all.

On August 5. at the Asia World Grand Prix in Hong Kong, he beat Gary Goodridge by KO at 1:34 in the first round. He weighed 163.5 kg (360 lb; 25 st 10 lb). Notable on this fight was his stance. Since his K-1 debut in 2005, he has fought using an orthodox stance. However, in this fight, he adopted for the first time a Southpaw stance. This was a strategy by his coach Kin Taiei (often anglicised to Taiei Kin) for an eventual re-match with Mighty Mo (to block his devastating overhand right better as in orthodox stance).

On September 29 at the K-1 Final Eliminations in Seoul, fighting southpaw stance again, he redeemed his previous loss and defeated Mighty Mo by decision. The win was disputed because Mo was able to land many hard hands on Choi's head, while the Korean missed most of his shots. However, due to a kick Choi delivered to Mighty Mo's groin in the second round that was inexplicably ruled a knockdown. Mighty Mo was quoted in the post-fight interview: "He (Choi) seemed a little bit stronger because I hit him with some good shots and he didn't fall down so I was surprised, actually harder than the ones I hit him with before. He must have been practicing taking punches."

In the World Grand Prix Final 2007 tournament on December 8, he again lost by decision to Jérôme Le Banner. Choi was announced by Jimmy Lennon Jr. as weighing in at 166.6 kg (367 lb; 26 st 3 lb), the heaviest weight of his K-1 career (2005-2008). In the post-fight Choi said: "He (Jérôme) has been my toughest opponent, who was able to resist my powerful punches and counter with speed, I admire his physical strength and I'm sure with more experience will be able to defeat him."

On September 27 at the K-1 final Elimination in Seoul, he came back to K-1 and fought against the current Heavyweight champion Badr Hari. After 3 rounds of fighting, Choi's corner threw in the towel due to a rib injury. Although Hari was unable to faze Choi with two heavy punches thrown in the first and second rounds, in the third round he began targeting Choi's ribcage with punches and kicks. Notable: In the years 2008 and 2009, Hari fought 14 bouts and only lost 3 of them, one by disqualification against Remy Bonjasky, two by KO against Alistair Overeem and Semmy Schilt. From his 11 wins, he won 8 times by KO in the first round, against Ray Sefo, Glaube Feitosa, Domagoj Ostojic, Frédéric Sinistra, Semmy Schilt, Zabit Samedov, Ruslan Karaev and Alistair Overeem. Only Peter Aerts and Errol Zimmerman survived the first round, Aerts lost by KO in the second round, Zimmerman in the third round. Choi stated before his bout against Hari: "He is a great fighter, but I will be different from those who fell in the opening round". Choi was the only from Hari's 11 defeated opponents in 2008 and 2009, who was able to take his best punches and kicks to the head, body and legs without going down once. Hari said after the fight, "I tried to knock him out in the first round, but he has a really strong chin."

Since his last fight, Choi has lost much weight. He was announced with a weight of 149 kg (328 lb; 23 st 6 lb).

Choi was picked as a first reserve fighter against Ray Sefo at the 2008 K-1 Championship Finals which he lost by Unanimous decision. The English version of the fight from HDNet Fights was commentated by Michael Schiavello and Mike Kogan, Co-Commentator was Kimbo Slice. Slice stated he saw Choi the day before at breakfast, and pointed out how big and huge he is. Slice: "Hongman is a really big guy, he is really tall. Fighting him would be a real challenge to any fighter." In the last 23 seconds of the bout, Sefo landed a very hard overhand right to Choi's jaw, but the Korean took it without any damage. Sefo knocked out many opponents with the same right hand, including Jérôme Le Banner, Gary Goodridge and Ruslan Karaev. Schiavello pointed out how the same punch broke the jaw of Le Banner in four places, and Kogan stated: "To Choi's credit, i don't think the people realize the power in Sefo's punches. That landed flush on his jaw, and Choi just shook it off and kept moving fowards, that's ridicolous."

Mixed martial arts career (2006–2009)

K-1 Dynamite

On December 31, Choi fought his first mixed martial arts fight on K-1 Dynamite, facing former TV star Bobby Ologun, whom Choi outweighed by a large margin. Ologun charged and missed a flying kick, after which Choi dragged him to the center of the ring and punched him. As Ologun seemed to refuse to defend, the referee stopped the match in just 16 seconds with a win for the Korean.

Choi was scheduled to face former WWE, IWGP, and NCAA national champion amateur wrestler Brock Lesnar at the combined promotion event K-1 Dynamite!! USA, a pay-per-view event at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, on June 2, 2007. However, reportedly due to a benign tumor on his pituitary gland, Choi was denied his California fighter's license on May 23, 2007, putting Dynamite!! USA's main event in jeopardy only 10 days before its scheduled occurrence. Choi was replaced in the fight by fellow Korean fighter Kim Min-soo.

He was confirmed to fight former Pride heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko at Yarennoka on New Year's Eve. Choi opened the fight landing on top of Fedor during a takedown attempt, after which the Russian attempted an armbar from the bottom to no avail. The sequence repeated itself, only the second time Fedor showed the difference in experience and locked the armbar, forcing Choi to tap at 1:54.

Choi fought again in Dynamite!! 2008, being scheduled to fight Mirko Cro Cop. The fight was longer, as Cro Cop, a fellow K-1 specialist, found difficult to strike against the larger Choi. He did land multiple low kicks through the round, which eventually caused enough damage for the fight to be stopped in a KO for Cro Cop.

DREAM

Choi's next MMA match would be for the Dream promotion. He faced retired baseball player Jose Canseco in an MMA match on May 26, 2009, as part of its Super Hulk Tournament. Choi beat Canseco in 1 minute 17 seconds.

The Korean advanced to the semi-finals at Dream 11 and was pitted against Ikuhisa Minowa, a Japanese fighter familiar with large differences in size. Minowa resorted to creative takedown and guard pulls to bring the match to the mat, but Choi used his size and strength to shut down his gameplan. Eventually Minowa pinned Choi in side control and landed knee strikes, which the Korean answered to by landing some ground and pound later through Minowa's guard. At the next round, however, Minowa took Choi down and immediately locked a heel hook, making Choi submit.

Choi was expected to participate in Dream 14, which was supposed to have taken place in Seoul, South Korea. But many factors, including the issue that many top Korean stars such as Denis Kang and him (Choi) were not available in April, contributed to the event being canceled.

Military service & inactivity (2008–2015)

In April 2008, Choi joined the Korean army for his 21 months military service. After failing two medical tests, he was relieved from his military duty. The main reason was a problem with the sight in his left eye, which was the result of a brain tumor. On June 9, the tumor was finally removed through surgery.

Choi did not compete in any competitions between October 2009 and July 2015. He frequently appeared in TV shows, game shows, and a few movies during those years. Many critics believe he never reached his best shape after this long break. Even though he was technically very limited and mostly lost to the best K-1 and MMA fighters, his greatest strengths were his very good chin, overall punch and kick resistance, and a very strong Muay Thai knee strike. Fighters like Carlos Toyota or David Mihajlov don't have a similar Knockout-ratio or punching power as Badr Hari, Jérôme Le Banner or Mighty Mo (kickboxer). Only Mo was able to knock him out during Choi's time in K-1 (2005-2008), although the Korean stated he had not trained and was not in shape at that time, and backed up this claim in the rematch by not just appearing in top shape against Mo, but also by taking his best punches. During his best days, Choi was also able to take all punches and kicks from Bob Sapp, Semmy Schilt and Remy Bonjasky without being knocked down or out once. Le Banner had four fights with Mark Hunt, and he took him down a total of three times, once with hard kicks to the legs, once with a kick to the head, and once with a counter punch to the head, and Hunt received an eight count each time. Hunt is considered one of the most durable fighters in K-1 and MMA, with very good chin and general punch and kick resistance. But still he was floored by Le Banner three times, and was also knocked out by a liver kick from Schilt. Schilt knocked out many of his opponents with punches and kicks, and Le Banner had with over 80% the highest knockout ratio in the entire K-1 Circus. Choi took every attack to the head, body, and legs from Le Banner and Schilt, never went to the floor, and was never counted out or received an eight count in his bout with the Dutchman and his two bouts with the Frenchman.

Comeback (2015–present)

Road Fighting Championship

In July 2015, after 5 years and 9 months of inactivity in combat sport, he gave his comeback against Brazilian fighter Carlos Toyota, weighing 140 kg (310 lb), the lowest to this day. He lost via knockout in the first round (multiple punches to face and jaw). Toyota was the second fighter besides Mighty Mo who knocked out Choi with head punches.

On December 26, 2015, he competed in the Openweight Tournament "ROAD FC 027" in China. His opponent in the quarterfinals was Chinese Luo Quanchao. Choi was able to win the fight by T.K.O in the first round and advance to the semifinals.

In April 2016, he fought the "Chinese" Aorigele, whom he defeated by knockout in round one. He was weighing 157 kg (346 lb).

On September 24, 2016, Choi, at a new fighting weight of 161.5 kg (356 lb), competed in the finals of the Openweight Tournament. Despite intense preparation against the strong puncher Mighty Mo, who knocked him out with a heavy head punch back in 2007, Choi was not able to avoid another Knockout defeat by a head punch from Mo.

Kickboxing

On November 6, 2016, Choi returned to a kickboxing ring for the first time since December 2008. At the Silk Road Hero Kickboxing event in China, he lost a unanimous points decision to China's Zhou Zhipeng. Choi weighed 160 kg, while Zhou weighed only 72 kg (159 lb) with a height of 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)

On November 27, 2017. At the AFC event in South Korea, he defeated Japan's Noboru Uchida by a unanimous points victory.

On November 15, 2018, he fought at the Chinese event MAS FIGHT against Wushu (sport) Fighter Yi Long, who weights 80 kg (180 lb) standing 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in). The fight was scored under strange circumstances as a Technical knockout win for the Chinese. Yi kicked Choi with a spinning kick below the waist at 1.30 minutes into the first round, after which Choi sat down on the floor with a painfull face, and stayed there for several minutes. The referee was Tony Weeks, known from Boxing, who, among other famous fights, refereed the World Heavyweight Championship fight between Wladimir Klitschko and Tyson Fury in Düsseldorf in November 2015, when Fury dethroned the long reigning Champion Klitschko. Choi complained to Weeks, that Yi had kicked him to the groin, but Weeks disagreed and judged Choi's behavior as refusing to fight. Various slow-motion footage and photos show that while Yi's kick was not clearly to the groin, but it was below the beltline.

On June 11, 2019, he lost to David Mihajlov of Hungary, who sent him to the ground with several head shots 49 seconds into the first round, and the referee stopped the fight after a brief count. Choi weighed 150 kg (330 lb), Mihajlov 110 kg (240 lb). Apart from Mighty Mo in 2007 and 2016 and Carlos Toyota in 2015, Mihajlov was the third man to knock Choi out with head shots.

Professional Wrestling

On July 21, 2019 Choi gave a shot at professional wrestling when he worked for Dragon Gate's Kobe Pro Wrestling event. His only match was a victory over Ryo Saito and Stalker Ichikawa in a handicap match.

Outside the ring

In 2008 Choi began a singing career with supermodel Kang Su-hee in Korea under the name of Beauty & The Beast. He also made a rap single featuring vocals by Kang. In 2009, he made his movie debut in the Japanese film Goemon.

He has some tattoos. His surname "Choi" on his left shoulder., on his left forearm the phrase "Secret of success is constancy to purpose", on his chest "No Pain No Gain".

In April 2010, Choi appeared as part of the main cast in Japanese TV drama series Kaibutsu-kun, adapted from Fujiko Fujio's Kaibutsu-kun of the same name. Choi played the character Franken, which was one of the three understudies of prince Kaibutsu-kun.

In April 2012 he appeared as a guest in the 19th episode of the Korean variety show Invincible Youth 2.

He has also done several endorsement works with actress / former model Karina. He has been a face for Lotte's ice cream product Mona Oh ('Monaka-King') alongside Karina. He threw out the ceremonial first pitch along with Karina at the Chiba Lotte Marines-Yomiuri Giants game in Chiba Marine Stadium on June 11, 2006. He has also done endorsement works for videogame LittleBigPlanet with Mari Yaguchi, a former member of the music group Morning Musume.

In March 2012, he made a special guest appearance in episode 2 and another in July 2012 in episode 17 of JTBC variety programme Shinhwa Broadcast hosted by boyband Shinhwa.

On September 8 and 15, 2013, he appeared in episodes 310 and 311 of the variety show 2 Days & 1 Night (KBS2) as a guest of regular cast-member Kim Jong-min.

On November 16, 2014, he appeared in episode 28 of reality show Roommate (SBS) as a guest along with female singer Hong Jin-young.

ON June 23, 2015, he appeared in episode 254 of variety show Running Man (SBS) as a guest and as well as a hunter for Running Man nametags.

Championships and accomplishments

Kickboxing

Mixed martial arts

Ssireum

Mixed martial arts record

Professional record breakdown
9 matches 4 wins 5 losses
By knockout 4 3
By submission 0 2
Res. Record Opponent Method Event Date Round Time Location Notes
Loss 4–5 Mighty Mo KO (punch) Road FC 033 September 24, 2016 1 4:06 Seoul, South Korea Road FC Openweight Tournament Finals.
Win 4–4 Aorigele KO (punch) Road FC 030: In China April 16, 2016 1 1:36 Beijing, China Road FC Openweight Tournament Semifinals.
Win 3–4 Quanchao Luo TKO (corner stoppage) ROAD FC 027: In China December 26, 2015 1 3:14 Shanghai, China Road FC Openweight Tournament Quarterfinals.
Loss 2–4 Carlos Toyota KO (punch) ROAD FC 024: In Japan July 25, 2015 1 1:29 Tokyo, Japan
Loss 2–3 Ikuhisa Minowa Submission (heel hook) Dream 11 October 6, 2009 2 1:27 Yokohama, Japan Dream Super Hulk Grand Prix Semifinal.
Win 2–2 Jose Canseco TKO (submission to punches) Dream 9 May 26, 2009 1 1:17 Yokohama, Japan Dream Super Hulk Grand Prix Quarterfinal.
Loss 1–2 Mirko Cro Cop TKO (leg kick) Fields Dynamite!! 2008 December 31, 2008 1 6:32 Saitama, Japan
Loss 1–1 Fedor Emelianenko Submission (armbar) Yarennoka! December 31, 2007 1 1:58 Saitama, Japan
Win 1–0 Bobby Ologun TKO (punches) K-1 PREMIUM 2006 Dynamite!! December 31, 2006 1 0:16 Osaka, Japan

Kickboxing record

Professional record breakdown
22 matches 13 wins 9 losses
By knockout 7 3
By decision 6 6
Result Record Opponent Method Event Date Round Time Location Notes
Loss 13–9 Hungary

David Mihajlov

KO AFC

June 11, 2019

1 0:49 Korea South Korea
Loss 13–8 China

Yi Long

TKO MAS FIGHT November 15, 2018 1 1:30 ChinaChina
Win 13–7 Japan

Uchida Noboru

Decision

(Unanimous)

AFC

November 27, 2017

3 3:00 Korea South Korea
Loss 12–7 China Zhou Zhipeng Decision (Unanimous) Silk Road Hero Kickboxing November 6, 2016 3 3:00 China China
Loss 12–6 New Zealand Ray Sefo Decision (Unanimous) K-1 World GP Final 2008 December 8, 2008 3 3:00 Japan Yokohama, Japan
Loss 12–5 Morocco Badr Hari TKO (Corner Stoppage) K-1 Seoul GP 2008 September 29, 2008 3 3:00 South Korea Seoul, South Korea K-1 WGP 2008 Final Eliminations.
Loss 12–4 France Jérôme Le Banner Decision (Unanimous) K-1 World GP Final 2007 December 8, 2007 3 3:00 Japan Yokohama, Japan K-1 WGP 2007 1/4.
Win 12–3 American Samoa Mighty Mo Decision (Majority) K-1 Seoul GP 2007 September 29, 2007 3 3:00 South Korea Seoul, South Korea K-1 WGP 2007 Final Elimination.
Win 11–3 Trinidad and Tobago Gary Goodridge KO (Knee Strike) K-1 Hong Kong GP 2007 August 5, 2007 1 1:34 Hong Kong Hong Kong
Win 10–3 United States Mike Malone KO K-1 World Grand Prix 2007 in Hawaii April 28, 2007 2 2:02 United States Hawaii, United States
Loss 9–3 American Samoa Mighty Mo KO (Right Overhand) K-1 Yokohama GP 2007 March 4, 2007 2 0:50 Japan Yokohama, Japan
Loss 9–2 France Jérôme Le Banner Ext.R Decision (Unanimous) K-1 World Grand Prix 2006 in Osaka Opening Round September 30, 2006 4 3:00 Japan Osaka, Japan K-1 WGP 2006 Final Elimination.
Win 9–1 Japan Akebono KO (Left Hook) K-1 World Grand Prix 2006 in Sapporo July 30, 2006 2 0:57 Japan Sapporo, Japan
Win 8–1 Netherlands Semmy Schilt Decision (Split) K-1 World Grand Prix 2006 in Seoul June 3, 2006 3 3:00 South Korea Seoul, South Korea
Win 7–1 United States Sylvester Terkay Decision (Unanimous) K-1 World Grand Prix 2006 in Las Vegas April 29, 2006 3 3:00 United States Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Loss 6–1 Netherlands Remy Bonjasky Decision (Unanimous) K-1 World Grand Prix 2005 November 19, 2005 3 3:00 Japan Tokyo, Japan K-1 WGP 2005 1/4.
Win 6–0 United States Bob Sapp Decision (Majority) K-1 World Grand Prix 2005 in Tokyo - Final Elimination September 23, 2005 3 3:00 Japan Tokyo, Japan K-1 WGP 2005 Final Elimination.
Win 5–0 Japan Akebono TKO (Referee Stoppage) K-1 World Grand Prix 2005 in Hawaii July 29, 2005 1 2:52 United States Hawaii, United States
Win 4–0 United States Tom Howard KO (Knee Strike) K-1 World Grand Prix 2005 in Hiroshima June 14, 2005 1 2:11 Japan Hiroshima, Japan
Win 3–0 Thailand Kaoklai Kaennorsing Ext.R Decision (Unanimous) K-1 World Grand Prix 2005 in Seoul March 19, 2005 4 3:00 South Korea Seoul, South Korea K-1 Seoul GP 2005 Champion.
Win 2–0 Japan Akebono TKO (Corner Stoppage) K-1 World Grand Prix 2005 in Seoul March 19, 2005 1 0:24 South Korea Seoul, South Korea K-1 Seoul GP 2005 1/2.
Win 1–0 Japan Wakashoyo KO (Left Hook) K-1 World Grand Prix 2005 in Seoul March 19, 2005 1 1:40 South Korea Seoul, South Korea K-1 Seoul GP 2005 1/4.

TV appearances

Year Network Title Notes
2013 KBS2 2 Days & 1 Night Special guest, Ep. 310-311
2015 SBS Running Man Special guest, Ep. 254
2016 tvN Hey Ghost, Let's Fight (cameo)

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