Doo Ho Choi let it all hang out during and after his fight at UFC Vegas 94.
It had been a long time since Choi tasted victory inside the octagon, thanks to a combination of losses and inactivity. You’d have to go as far back as 2016 to find Choi’s most recent win, a fast knockout of Thiago Tavares that preceded a future Hall of Fame fight with Cub Swanson at UFC 206.
On Saturday, Choi finally had his hand raised again following a tough fight with Bill Algeo that ended with Choi knocking out a stunned Algeo in the second round. Afterward, Choi was visibly emotional, and he described what was going through his mind in that moment speaking to the media backstage at UFC APEX in Las Vegas.
“I got emotional because this win was a long time coming,” Choi said via a Korean translator. “It’s been a while. It’s been a while since I won, and the last time it didn’t go very well and I heard all the haters, all the people that said I’m done and I can’t do it anymore. It started to affect me. I started to doubt myself a little bit.
“I was thinking, ‘Is this really it? Am I really done?’ I kept faith in myself and I had to prove it to myself, and I proved it to myself tonight, so that’s why I’m emotional.”
Choi, fondly known as “The Korean Superboy,” was a 23-year-old blue-chip prospect when he made his UFC debut with an 18-second knockout of Juan Manuel Puig in 2014. He won 14 of his first 15 pro bouts before falling short in a classic brawl against Swanson.
Two more losses followed and then Choi had to spend two years in the military, a mandatory service in his native South Korea. He returned in February 2023 against Kyle Nelson, but could only muster a majority draw after a strong performance that was dulled by Choi receiving a point-deduction for a head butt in the third round.
Through all that, Choi remained optimistic.
“I know this is the one thing that I’m good at,” Choi said. “If I try my best and leave it all out there and if it doesn’t go my way, then I can accept that, maybe I don’t have it. I kept believing in myself and kept trying and I got it done.”
Choi had an extra boost Saturday with the legendary “Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung in his corner. Though Choi is not officially part of Jung’s team, he considers Jung to be a mentor and the two work closely together when Choi prepares for fights.
He made sure to thank Jung both in his post-fight speech and in his media scrum.
“I’m very thankful for ‘Zombie’ because he puts into my fights the amount effort that he put into his past title fights,” Choi said. “That’s the amount of care that he puts into my camps.”
Watch Choi’s post-fight media scrum below, courtesy of FanSided MMA.
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