The 5-1 Wang-Kim spent a lot of time in the amateur scene, finding almost nothing but success. The extended stay paid off as he jumped into the pro circuit and immediately made the impression of a lifetime. Less than two years after turning pro, Wang-Kim and his flashy style stole the show during one of Cage Warriors’ trips to Southern California and put him on everyone’s radar.
“In the Cage Warriors fight, I kneed him in the face, he went down, and I secured the win,” Wang-Kim explained. “I just felt calm, cool and collected. My knee touched his chin, he fell, I put the finishing touches on it and it worked.
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Don’t let the “concrete” answer fool you, if a knee didn’t land, a wheel kick or Superman punch might have. Wang-Kim’s striking style is tailor-made for DWCS, where wins aren’t necessarily enough to guarantee your spot in the UFC — you have to be must-see TV.
Neither the adversaries nor the spotlight have been too much for Wang-Kim so far. His striking is not only some of the flashiest we’ll see this season, but it’s so smooth at times that Wang-Kim doesn’t even seem to sweat. Judging by Dana White’s demand for excellence in week one, he’ll need every perk he can get.
“As a martial artist, I try to make everything as clean and beautiful as possible,” Wang-Kim said. “Everything I throw, I throw with a lot of confidence, but it’s a constant repetition that I’ve rooted with years and years of hard work. The Contender Series is a great projector, a great platform. form to show who I am at the audience base. It’s a good ground to show the world who I am, what is my lineage and my style that I have been cultivating for 13 years. It is my artistic experience that I want that the public sees.
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Winning is one of the best feelings a fighter could ask for, but long before he landed his first strike on an opponent, Wang-Kim was already working on perfecting his craft. Wang-Kim was years away from inflicting pain on a person when he began to worry about the sharpness and form of his strike. By the time he was “Packing the Mack” at Tuff-N-Uff, he was already being compared to some of the greatest to ever dress up.
