Future WW Champ

and most underrated WW out there.

I totally agree Kim is underrated. I have a question though, is it that he is that underrated of a grappler or is it more of a question of NCAA wrestlers gettingtoo much hype? I think most people fail to realize that the NCAA only includes American collegiate athletes. DHK is a national team caliber judo practitioner. That says a lot because South Korea has won the second most Olympic medals in Judo only behind Japan. I started training MMA three years ago and have sparred with various NCAA wrestlers with various accolades, I always admire how hard they work and how tough they are. This year I was introduced to the HUGE gap between collegiate level wrestlers and international wrestling pros. I grappled with an Olympic alternate and it was totally mind blowing to see how much more, skillful, technical, powerful and dominating he was than many of the NCAA guys I have worked with in the past. I think a prime example of the gap in skills is GSP. He had never formally wrestled yet he is now one of the best wrestlers in MMA if not the best. WHY? Because he trains with OLYMPIC wrestlers! Kamal Shalorus vs Jamie Varner is another prime example of an international level wrestler against someone who usually has the edge in wrestling against his opponents. He totally made Jamie look like a baby in the very little wrestling we saw between crotch shots. How many times have we seen two black belts square off and one of them subs the other like they were novices? DHK does need to face the next step up in competition but I wouldn't count him out against someone like Koscheck, Shields, or Alves. Doesn't it say something that he dominated Diaz in the grappling department when Nate has been a fighter most opponents try to avoid grappling with?

@caymanfighter

no idea about the NCAA thing but actually  that parallels a lot of judo guys in mma too.

You hear about legit Judo guys and their accolades in Judo in the UFC but honestly even guys like Kim,Akiyama, etc are high level judo guys(who have medaled in Japan tourneys and Korean tourneys, Asian Games) but they still arent nearly good enough to make the international Olympic squad.

but the thing is if you make it to the Olympics and medal you are probably not gonna waste time doing MMA for chump change unless the guy is completly out of his prime(Yoshida being a great example)

@Lynxguy
yeah I'd love for Kim to have a step up in comp like that .

I think  he beats Condit pretty easily. He would do what Rory did but not get sweeped and have his back taken and do it for three rounds.

I think he dominates Kos but like I said in my personal opinion(which many diasgree with) he is the single most overrated guy in the division. He only has wrestling. No ground game, when he faced a legit sub guy off his back in Dusin he almost got triangled. The only time hes had success on the feet was against Dustin and Yoshida(two of the worst strikers in that divsion and cut). and he got his title shot by beating Daley who has no wrestling.

Penn,Shields,Fitch is gonna be very competitive and I would LOVE to see those fights seeing how Kim has been saying OVER and OVER again in interveiws that he matches up real well with Fitch and Sheilds .

@caymanfighter

another reason for that may be some fighters adjust their wrestling or judo better to MMA than others no matter what the credentials.

Look at Hendricks with all that hype because of his wrestling backround and he gets outwrestled by Story and squeaks by TJ Grant.

Another example would be in pure Judo, logically Akiyama would destroy Okami(Okami just did Judo through high school and college ) but I'm 100 percent sure in the cage when they clinch up Okami would take down Akiyama with ease.

I like the stun gun and i definatly think he is underrated, I just dont think he is that exciting of a fighter thats why hes not at the top now

I guess I have a hard time taking DHK really serious as a top WW since he did lose a fight to Karo Parisyan right as he started his downfall...I guess I'll see more and make a better call after his fight with Condit

If he beats Condit I might believe it. It wasn't to long ago that he lost to Parisyan to. 

love DHK, but he wont be a ufc champ.

jaydean makes a good case and gives us something to watch for in Kim's next fight.  I guess I'm just not sold on Kim yet, until I see some proof of his said potential.  At this point I would pick both Story and Ellenberger to beat him, and would venture to guess that Mike Pierce, whom i believe to be the most underrated WW, would straight up run roughshod over Kim.