One UFC Baku fighter etched his name into the history books with an all-time display of dominance.
Among the most one-sided fights in UFC history was the debut of undefeated phenom Khamzat Chimaev. ‘Borz’ arrived in 2021, reeling off two victories in the space of 10 days.
In the first, Chimaev battered John Phillips, restricting the English fighter to just two strikes while landing 124 himself en route to a second-round submission.
Unfortunately for Phillips, that wasn’t to be his last one-sided defeat on MMA’s biggest stage, and the next one was to mark the end of his career.
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JunYong Park mercilessly sent John Phillips into retirement on UFC ‘Fight Island’
Just three months after being ragdolled by Chimaev on the UFC’s ‘Fight Island’, Phillips returned to Abu Dhabi to share the cage with JunYong Park.
After an unremarkable 1-1 start to his Octagon career, Park made a statement at Phillips’ expense with a record-shattering performance.
Across three rounds, Park was hit just five times – an average of one strike every three minutes. And of the 15 minutes, the South Korean accumulated an incredible 13 minutes and 11 seconds of ground control time.
During the bout, Park landed 258 ground strikes, breaking a UFC record previously held by Matt Riddle’s 251 strikes that had stood for 11 years.
‘The Iron Turtle’ landed so many strikes that Daniel Cormier even broke the telestrator while trying to pinpoint the sheer volume of Park’s attacks.
Unsurprisingly, the South Korean walked away with a lopsided unanimous decision victory, picking up three 30-25 scorecards, while Phillips was released the following month and hung up his gloves.
JunYong Park’s impressive run ahead of UFC Baku
Since destroying Phillips, Park has continued to perform well in the UFC with six wins in his last eight fights.
While a knockout to Gregory Rodrigues marked a setback in 2021, ‘The Iron Turtle’ bounced back with four straight victories, the last three of which all came by way of submission.
Park once again bounced back in his most recent fight, erasing the memory of a tight split decision against Andre Muniz by getting the better of longtime UFC middleweight mainstay Brad Tavares.
| Result | Opponent | Method |
| Win | Brad Tavares | Decision |
| Loss | Andre Muniz | Decision |
| Win | Albert Duraev | Submission |
| Win | Denis Tiuliulin | Submission |
| Win | Joseph Holmes | Submission |
| Win | Eryk Anders | Decision |
| Loss | Gregory Rodrigues | KO |
| Win | Tafon Nchukwi | Decision |
The South Korean is now fast approaching his first fight of 2025, a preliminary bout against Ismael Naurdiev at UFC Baku this Saturday.
Naurdiev has some hype behind him after a successful UFC debut in 2024, so a victory for Park — which would return him to a winning streak — could net ‘The Iron Turtle’ a big-name opponent down the line