*This content was translated by AI.
Yoo Soo-young (30) of "Yu-Jitsu" is heading to Las Vegas to run for the third consecutive Octagon. The opponent is rookie Elijah Smith (23, USA), who is well known for his Korean ancestry.
UFC officially announced on the 4th that Yoo Soo-young will have a bantamweight match with Smith at the UFC Fight Night: Emmet vs. Bachet Horse competition to be held at Meta Apex in Las Vegas on March 15 (Korea time). Yoo Soo-young, who made a strong impression by overpowering Xiaolong (China) in August last year, is aiming for a winning streak in his first return match in about seven months.
ROAD TO UFC Season 3 winner Yoo Soo-young has already won two consecutive games in 2025, emerging as a bantamweight divinity. Opponent Smith is also a formidable opponent who has won two consecutive games since entering the UFC through the Dana White Contender Series (DWCS) in 2024.
In particular, Smith is a Korean fighter whose maternal grandmother is Korean and has a deep affection for Korea enough to engrave the Korean flag and her daughter's name in Korean on her shoulder. The two players also had talks on Smith's podcast in the past. Yoo Soo-young said, "It's a strange feeling to fight with the player I talked to while smiling, but I accepted the match because I thought the odds were good enough," adding, "I have no change in my mind to win no matter who I fight."
Yoo Soo-young conducted off-season training in the U.S. with "Stern Gun" Kim Dong-hyun in preparation for this game. Yoo Soo-young, who raised his real sense by sparring with bantamweight champion Merab Devalishvili, vowed to win, saying, "Smith is good and smart, but his movement is not anomalous."
Earlier, Yoo Soo-young won a unanimous decision against Xiaolong through unilateral boos from home fans in Shanghai, China. Yoo Soo-young, who said before the game, "I don't lose to China," kept her promise and aims to win consecutive games against Smith.
Meanwhile, in the main event of the competition, featherweight veteran Josh Emmett and Shin Seong-Kevin Bachejos clashed, signaling a hot batting battle.
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*This content was translated by AI.
