Recently released UFC fighters Issei Tamura and Riki Fukuda will be making their Road FC debuts later this month on a card which will be headlined by a lightweight title rematch between Yui Chul Nam and Takasuke Kume.
Road FC 13 is set for the JH Park Stadium in Gumi and will also feature the 100th fight of Ikuhisa Minowa (56-35-8). The Japanese veteran, who made his mixed martial arts (MMA) debut back in 1996, will be completing a historic century when he takes Korean Kim Hoon (3-10-1).
Nam (16-4-1) and Kume (15-2-4) first met at Road FC 11 in the final of the Lightweight Grand Prix. The fight was declared a draw after 15 minutes meaning that an extra round was needed and the Korean benefited from a controversial stand up en route to claiming a unanimous decision victory.
Had the referee allowed Kume to continue to work from top position, instead of standing the fight up, the Japanese fighter would arguably have won the decisive extra round and with it the inaugural Road FC lightweight title so matchmakers decided to put on an immediate rematch.
Fukuda (19-7) was cut from the UFC following a failed drug test and will be looking to resurrect his career when he takes on Kim Hee Sung (6-1) in a middleweight match-up. Issei Tamura (7-4) was released after back-to-back losses and he will be returning to Asia to take on ONE FC veteran Min Jung Song (5-6) in a bantamweight bout.
Road FC's champions have all been crowned through eight man tournaments and on October 18th it will be the turn of the featherweights with the 145 lbs semi finals set to take place. Bae Young Kwon (8-3) faces Kosuke Umeda (13-12-3) in one while Young Bok Gil (5-2) takes on Mu Gyeom Choi (1-0) in the other.
Brazilian Andrews Nakahara (13-5-1) also returns to Korea after drawing with Bae Ho Myung in June and will be going up against Jung Hwan Cha (10-6-2) who also fought to a stalemate in his most recent Road FC outing against Luis Ramos in April.
Full Fight card:
Yui Chul Nam vs Takasuke Kume (for Nam's 155 lbs belt)
Riki Fukuda vs Kim Hee Sung
Issei Tamura vs Song Min-Jung
Ikuhisa Minowa vs Kim Hoon
Andrews Nakahara vs Jung Hwan Cha
Bae Young Kwon vs Kosuke Umeda (145 lbs GP semi final)
Young Bok Gil vs Mu Gyeom Choi (145 lbs GP semi final)
Lee Yun Jun vs Kamaya Makoto