Canadian featherweight Kyle (The Monster) Nelson will take on (The Korean Superboy) Doo Ho Choi on a Feb. 4 UFC Fight Night card in Las Vegas.
Choi (14-4-0) has not fought since a December 2019 loss, by second-round TKO, to Canadian Charles (Air) Jourdain. It marked a third straight defeat for the 31-year-old South Korean, albeit to tough competition in Jeremy (Lil Heathen) Stephens and Cub Swanson.
Choi's December 2016 bout with Swanson has since been added to the UFC Hall of Fame’s "Fight Wing" with UFC president Dana White calling it "one of the greatest fights of all time.”
Swanson and Choi landed a combined 188 significant strikes, the most for a featherweight fight in 2016. Swanson landed 111 of the 188 significant strikes, a featherweight record in a single bout in 2016.
Injuries have contributed to Choi's recent absence from the cage.
The main event Feb. 4 at the UFC's Apex production facility pits American Derrick (The Black Beast) Lewis, ranked seventh among UFC heavyweight contenders, against No. 12 Sergey (The Polar Bear) Spivak of Moldova.
Nelson (13-5-0) is coming off a July decision loss to England's Jai (The Black Country Banger) Herbert in London. All three judges scored it 29-28 to Herbert (12-4-0), each giving him the last two rounds.
Nelson scored more significant strikes, 41 to 36 according to UFC Stats, but Herbert had more control time, five minutes 57 second compared to 3:07 for the Canadian.
The fight, which saw Nelson move up to lightweight (155 pounds) from featherweight (145 pounds), followed a 22-month absence for the 31-year-old from Huntsville, Ont., who trains out of Stoney Creek, Ont.
Nelson's debut win in the UFC was an impressive first-round knockout of Mexican Marco Polo Reyes in September 2019 in Mexico City. The Canadian had previously lost by submission to American Matt (Robo) Sayles and by TKO to Brazil's Diego Ferreira.
Nelson is 1-4-0 in the UFC, with the other loss to Billy Quarantillo in September 2020
He was scheduled to meet Sean (The Sniper) Woodson at a catchweight of 150 pounds in June 2020 in Las Vegas. But Nelson, given less than three weeks notice, was unable to get his visa in time.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 29, 2022.
Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press
