Overview
Woo Jae Kim is a veteran of South Korea’s regional MMA scene whose career stretches back more than a decade.
While his 6–10 record doesn’t immediately stand out on paper, it undersells the amount of experience he accumulated across Korea, Japan, China and other Asian regional circuits.
His career is particularly associated with ROAD FC, where he developed into a recognizable Korean flyweight before eventually resurfacing in DEEP and Black Combat.
Early Life & Background
The most important piece of Woo Jae Kim’s background is judo.
Woo Jae Kim began practicing judo while in high school and continued until around age 20. ROAD FC specifically identified his judo experience as the foundation for his strong ground game.
Woo Jae Kim later explained why he ultimately moved away from traditional judo and toward MMA. He felt constrained by judo’s rules and the dependence on gripping the gi. MMA offered something he found more appealing: freedom.
In a 2018 interview, Woo Jae Kim explained that even when exhausted in MMA, he could still try to punch, attack or find another way to compete. That ability to use virtually every legal technique was what attracted him to the sport.
That background helps explain the fighter Woo Jae Kim became. He wasn’t simply a judoka attempting to translate throws into MMA. He supplemented his grappling with kickboxing training and gradually developed into a more rounded fighter. ROAD FC described him as having both high-level ground ability from his judo experience and respectable striking developed through kickboxing.
Fighting Style
Judo-rooted, durable and willing to fight everywhere
Woo Jae Kim’s base is judo and grappling, but his career became defined more by versatility and toughness than by one overwhelming specialty.
His judo background gives him a natural understanding of balance, clinch positioning and transitions into grappling exchanges. But unlike a pure submission-oriented fighter, Woo Jae Kim has historically been comfortable allowing fights to develop across multiple phases.
His record illustrates that tendency.
Of his six professional victories, four came by decision, with one knockout and one submission. That means roughly 67 percent of his victories required him to win on the scorecards rather than relying on an early finish.
His lone submission victory came via rear-naked choke against Takashi Takashi at Wardog 11 in 2016, while his lone professional knockout came much later when he stopped Dong Soo Seo with punches at ROAD FC 58 in 2021.
Perhaps the most revealing description came from Kim himself.
Ahead of his 2018 ROAD FC return, he identified mental toughness as his greatest weapon. At the time, Kim said he had never been knocked down or seriously rocked during his career and believed his mentality allowed him to remain competitive regardless of the opponent.
That durability became part of his identity.
The weakness: submission defense
There is also a very clear statistical vulnerability.
Of Woo Jae Kim’s ten professional defeats:
- 5 have come by submission
- 4 by decision
- 1 by KO/TKO.
More importantly, submission defense became an increasing problem late in his career. Haruo Ochi submitted him with a guillotine in 2023, Hayato Matsuoka caught him with a rear-naked choke in May 2024, and Tae Ho Park submitted him via armbar in August 2024.
So there’s an interesting contradiction in Kim’s style: his grappling background is one of his strengths, yet high-level submission exchanges have also produced the most losses in his career.
Professional Career
Woo Jae Kim made his professional MMA debut on October 20, 2013, losing a decision to Ereneo Galindez at Real Fight MMA Championship 3.
His early career was difficult. He started 0–2 after dropping another decision to Jong Hyun Kwak at ROAD FC Korea 2 in March 2014.
His breakthrough came later that year.
At ROAD FC 19 on November 9, 2014, Woo Jae Kim defeated Kwang Seok Jung by unanimous decision for his first professional victory.
From there, ROAD FC became the central promotion of his career.
After losing to Jong Heon Chae in 2015, Kim defeated Won Jun Lee by split decision at ROAD FC 25. He later added a submission victory over Takashi Takashi in Japan before returning to ROAD FC and defeating Dong Hyuk Ko by unanimous decision at ROAD FC 35 in December 2016.
By this stage, Woo Jae Kim had established himself as an experienced regional flyweight willing to compete internationally.
The Won Hee Jung rivalry
One of the more interesting threads in Kim’s career is his two-fight series with Won Hee Jung.
They first met at ROAD FC 50 on November 3, 2018.
Jung entered as a kickboxing-based fighter while Kim was presented as the more grappling-oriented competitor. Kim ultimately won a split decision, improving his record to 5–5.
More than five years later, they met again.
This time it happened at Black Combat 10: Night in Seoul on January 20, 2024.
The result was reversed.
Jung defeated Kim by unanimous decision after the fight went to a fourth round, evening their series at one victory apiece.
Career-best finish
Kim’s final ROAD FC appearance produced arguably his most impressive result.
At ROAD FC 58 on July 3, 2021, Kim stopped Dong Soo Seo with punches at 1:45 of Round 2.
It remains the only KO/TKO victory of Kim’s professional career and moved him to 6–6. FightMatrix subsequently recorded his highest quarterly flyweight ranking at No. 422 in October 2021.
But Kim hasn’t won since.
The Late-Career Slide
Following the victory over Seo, Kim spent nearly two years away from professional competition.
He returned against veteran Japanese fighter Haruo Ochi at DEEP Tokyo Impact 2023, losing by third-round guillotine.
Then came a particularly difficult 2024.
Kim lost the Black Combat rematch with Won Hee Jung by unanimous decision in January before traveling back to Japan and facing Hayato Matsuoka at DEEP Tokyo Impact in May. Matsuoka submitted him with a rear-naked choke in the opening round.
Kim returned to Black Combat three months later against Tae Ho Park at Rise 4.
Park submitted Kim with an armbar at 4:47 of Round 2. Black Combat currently lists Kim at 6–10, while the promotion’s Rise 4 page identifies him as “투우” and a flyweight.
That left Kim on a four-fight losing streak:
Haruo Ochi — L, Submission
Won Hee Jung — L, Decision
Hayato Matsuoka — L, Submission
Tae Ho Park — L, Submission
There is no later professional fight listed in the major databases I checked.
Career Highlights
Woo Jae Kim’s career isn’t built around championships. Its value comes more from longevity, international experience and the level of regional promotions he competed in.
His strongest accomplishments include:
- 6–10 professional MMA record across 16 fights
- More than a decade as a professional
- Five ROAD FC victories
- ROAD FC record of 5–2
- Victory over Won Hee Jung at ROAD FC 50
- TKO victory over Dong Soo Seo at ROAD FC 58
- Submission victory at Wardog 11 in Japan
- Competed internationally in Korea, Japan and China, among other regional appearances
- Appeared for ROAD FC, DEEP, Black Combat, Grachan, Arzalet and Wardog
- FightMatrix career-high quarterly ranking of #422 at flyweight in October 2021.
That 5–2 ROAD FC record is probably the statistic I’d emphasize most in a HanPunch profile. His overall record looks much different when separated from his primary promotional run.
Summary & Trajectory
Woo Jae Kim’s career can essentially be divided into three chapters.
2013–2016 — Development
Kim entered professional MMA as a judo-based fighter and endured an uneven beginning, starting 0–2 before gradually finding success. By the end of 2016, he had built himself into a legitimate regional flyweight with ROAD FC wins and experience competing internationally.
2017–2021 — Veteran prime
Kim’s record continued to fluctuate, but his ROAD FC results remained strong. Wins over Dong Hyuk Ko, Won Hee Jung and eventually Dong Soo Seo gave him a respectable 5–2 record inside ROAD FC.
The 2021 TKO of Seo arguably represents the high point of his competitive trajectory.
2023–present — Late-career decline
Woo Jae Kim returned after a long absence into difficult matchmaking against experienced opposition. The results haven’t been favorable.
Four consecutive losses—and particularly three submission defeats—suggest that Woo Jae Kim is now firmly in the veteran stage of his career rather than moving toward championship contention.
At 34 years old and without a recorded professional appearance since August 2024, the central question isn’t whether Kim can become one of Korea’s leading flyweight prospects.
It’s whether he intends to make another run at all.
Woo Jae Kim is a better fighter than a 6–10 record makes him appear.
That's probably the most important conclusion for a HanPunch profile.
Kim was never an elite Korean flyweight or a major championship-level fighter, and his career shouldn't be rewritten to suggest otherwise. But evaluating him solely by his overall win-loss record misses much of the story.
His 5–2 ROAD FC record tells a different story.
During the strongest portion of his career, Kim was a dependable regional flyweight who could grapple, strike, survive difficult positions and win close fights. He wasn't a prolific finisher—four of his six wins came by decision—but he was difficult to dominate and accumulated meaningful experience across several Asian MMA scenes.
His judo background gave him a legitimate technical foundation, but arguably his defining characteristic was the mentality he described himself in 2018: a fighter who believed he simply wouldn't go down.
The later portion of his career has exposed limitations. Submission defense has become the biggest concern, and three submission losses across his last four appearances are difficult to ignore. At this stage, a title run in one of Korea's major organizations would require a significant reversal in form.
But Kim's career still carries historical value within Korean regional MMA.
He belongs to the generation of Korean fighters who built their careers through ROAD FC and the wider Asian regional circuit before today's increasingly defined UFC/RTU, Black Combat and international prospect pipelines existed. He fought at home, traveled abroad, disappeared for stretches, returned, changed promotions and continued competing well into his thirties.
For HanPunch, I would classify him as a Korean MMA veteran rather than a current prospect or contender.
Sang Kwon Han
Dae Hwan Kim
Da Eun Jung