Dong Hyun Kim is preparing to headline a UFC card for the first time, knowing that a win over John Hathaway in Macau next month would propel him straight into the title picture in a welterweight division that is wide open in the wake of Georges St-Pierre ’s retirement. Kim’s five-round fight with Hathaway will be the main event of The Ultimate Fighter: China Finale . It will be the third time in Kim’s last four fights that the Korean has got to compete in Asia, a factor that he feels is very much in his favor. “The biggest advantage is the fact that I don’t have to deal with the time differences. Macau is only an hour of time difference from Korea, which means I have to spend less time on the road to get adjusted to the time differences and the jet lag. Plus, there were quite a few fans from Korea who travelled to see me in my last Macau fight and I am sure we will have more fans from Korea to watch my fight now that I am the main card fight,” he told MMAWeekly.com . Hathaway doesn’t feature in the UFC’s official rankings, but only because he has been sidelined due to injury for over a year. The Englishman’s Octagon record of 7-1 is one of the best in the division and this is a fight that has implications for the title aspirations of both men, but Kim says he is more worried about entertaining the audience than eventually winning the belt
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Dong Hyun Kim Excited to be Top of the Card for the First Time at TUF: China Finale – MMA Weekly