Jun Yong Park

Jun Yong Park is a South Korean middleweight who has built a UFC tenure around relentless grappling, submission skills, and a remarkable record for ground strikes. Starting his career in 2013, Park compiled a strong 10-3 record in regional Asian promotions, notably defeating future PFL Welterweight champion Ray Cooper III, before entering the UFC in 2019. His calling card is rear-naked choke submissions and devastating ground-and-pound from top position. In October 2020, he set a UFC record with 258 ground strikes against John Phillips, and he holds the middleweight record for most total head strikes landed in a single bout. Despite these feats, Park's tenure in the UFC has been characterized by contentious decision wins, with multiple fights where media outlets and observers scored the bout for his opponent. His split-decision victories over Eryk Anders and André Muniz were particularly polarizing, and his June 2025 win over Ismail Naurdiev involved multiple eye pokes and an illegal knee that drew a two-point deduction, raising concerns about officiating integrity. On the feet, Park is offensively limited but defensively resilient, using wrestling and pressure to drag opponents into his ground domain. Recent setbacks to Gregory Rodrigues (a Fight of the Night knockout loss) and Ikram Aliskerov (a dominant wrestling display) suggest he struggles against stronger, more well-rounded competition. At his core, Park remains a gatekeeper with elite submission and ground-control skills but a limited ceiling in a division populated by strikers and versatile wrestlers.