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Ultimate Fighting Championship
Martial ArtsMixed Martial Arts

UFC: South Korea‘s ‘Iron Turtle’ Park Jun-yong shatters record in beat down of John Phillips on Fight Island

  • Park sets new UFC middleweight three-round record for ground strikes with 258 blows against Welsh veteran Phillips
  • ‘I don’t care about the records, whoever they send me, I’ll hit,’ says the 29-year-old

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Park Jun-yong of South Korea punches John Phillips in their middleweight bout during UFC Fight Night inside Flash Forum on UFC Fight Island on October 18, 2020 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Photos: Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Nicolas Atkin

Welsh veteran John Phillips received some pre-fight tips in the back from Khamzat Chimaev, the man who “smashed” him mercilessly on his UFC debut in July.

But Chimaev’s advice did nothing to prevent the 35-year-old Phillips (22-11, one no contest) getting an even bigger beat down from South Korea’s “Iron Turtle” Park Jun-yong (12-4) at UFC Fight Island 6 on Sunday.

The 29-year-old set a new UFC middleweight three-round record for ground strikes en route to a unanimous decision, his tally of 258 outdoing Matt Riddle’s 251 ground strikes landed at UFC Fight Night: Lauzon vs Stevens in 2009.

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There were scores of 30-25 across the board, with Park picking up two 10-8 rounds from each judge.

When told by former UFC two division champ Daniel Cormier, who was commentating on the ESPN broadcast, that he had set the record, Park was bemused.

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