Ok Rae Yoon on Eddie Alvarez victory at ONE on TNT IV
ONE on TNT IV took place on Wednesday, April 28th. The ONE Championship event emanated from Singapore Indoor Stadium. I spoke with Ok Rae Yoon after his victory over Eddie Alvarez in the ONT on TNT IV Post-Fight Presser.
I’m just kind of curious because as has been discussed in the scrum so far, very close to finishing Eddie in that opening frame.
How did Ok maintain that composure over the remaining two rounds? I imagine there was a lot of adrenaline going on in that first-round exchange.
“I believe in the first round if I picked my shots more and I was a bit calmer, I could have finished the fight. But my opponent was Eddie Alvarez, he’s a legend. So I got too excited and wanted to finish him a bit quicker. That’s the reason why I couldn’t finish him. On the second and third round, I saw Eddie Alvarez recovered and actually his stamina looked like he was recovering. Also from the stamina and from the damage. So I woke up and then I was like, ‘Oh yeah, I’m gonna have to be calm again. I’m gonna have to bring it down a bit and then focus.'”
Ok Rae Yoon
Also, a big facet of the fight I was picking up on was Ok’s ability to get up very quickly from the takedowns Eddie was able to very briefly get.
What does Ok credit to that part of his game in terms of sparring partners shoring up the defensive wrestling?
“On our team, we have a lot of great grapplers and wrestlers. Few of them would be ONE Championship athlete Bae Myung Ho The Wolverine. The other guy would be a former UFC fighter, The Maestro Dong Hyun Ma. Mr. Perfect Kyung Ho Kang who is also in the UFC right now. Also, Korean Super Boy. All of those guys are on Team MAD. I have such great partners. So I was very confident in my preparation. I was ready for anything.”
