South Korea’s Seung Woo Choi will look to get back to winning ways after dropping three straight since October of 2021. The fighter nicknamed “Sting” joined the UFC with lots of hype in 2019. Although he has since seen mixed results, he does own notable wins over Julian Erosa, Youssef Halal, and Suman Mokhtarian.
His opponent, Jarno Errens, is a former BRAVE and UAE Warriors fighter. He made his UFC debut in September of 2022, losing a very close decision to William Gomis. Regardless, Errens is considered one of the most promising up-and-comers out of the Netherlands as he looks to earn his first UFC victory.
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Betting Odds
Errens will come into his second UFC fight as the underdog.
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Fight Breakdown
Seung Woo Choi is a long and tall striker. He stands 6 feet tall with 74.5 inches of reach, one and a half more than Errens. He stands conventional and likes to mostly box from the outside, throwing in low and high kicks to end the odd combination. he will maintain his range by hand-fighting the lead hand and feinting and using this to open up the centre with a laser-like right cross.
However, the best weapon in his arsenal is his left hook, which he can throw short, long and does a good job of angling out with to avoid counters. He will also use the left hook to side step and set up the right high kick, or go to the body with the hook to set up the overhand right.
Jarno Errens is also a very good striker, but with a more balanced game than Choi. He also stands conventional with a high guard and good fundamentals, he typically has a more kickboxing approach than Choi’s, electing to throw kicks more consistently. His best strike is his right cross to the body, which is a major weapon if he can get a read on Choi’s left hook. The double-edged sword of Choi, is because the left hook has brought him so much success, he has become predictable in it’s use, and if he does this against Errens, look for Errens to roll underneath and work the body. On the other side, if Errens throws too wide, Choi is also great and countering up the pipe.
Errens is also a brown belt and a long-time practitioner of Judo. watch for potential hip tosses if Choi gets over-excited and finds himself over-extending into a clinch, or gets complacent holding Errens against the cage. Errens likes the whizzer and brings the leg all the way across the hip to create high elevation in his throws and usually ends up in side control if he can maintain top position after the momentum. In top position he allows his opponents to give up their back as they look to escaper, and has an extremely tight body triangle.
This is where he poses the most threat to Choi, who although improving drastically in the grappling department, has shown to hesitate in positions where his opponents can lock down positions. If Errens finds himself fighting from his back, he favours a high guard, looking to attack triangles and armbars so if Choi is looking to earn control time he has to do it against the cage. By stuffing Errens against the fence he takes away the space the Dutch fighter needs to play a high guard and if unable to submit, Errens has given up time on the mat due to lack of urgency.
Prediction
Both men definitely have opportunities to win this. Choi should look to keep the fight standing as much as he possibly can, he does enjoy a slight reach advantage and should have more finishing power from both sides. He is a little bit sharper with more explosive hand speed. Errens has good enough striking to make it a difficult fight but the easiest route to victory I believe would be to hunt a submission.
The hard part is taking Choi down, but if he can gain some respect on the feet and draw Choi into overcommitting, other opponents have been able to slip into a back take or crash into a clinch with Choi. I do think that Errens has the diversity in submission attack to chain his grappling together a few steps ahead of what Choi can keep up with, and as the underdog it’s pretty good value.
Pick: Jarno Errens to win (+128)
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