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UFC 331 is shaping up to be a big night for South Korean MMA fans. Two featherweight bouts on the September 19 card in Los Angeles will each feature a Korean fighter, and both carry real stakes. “Korean Superboy” Doo Ho Choi takes on Bellator legend Patricio “Pitbull” Freire, while Joosang “Zombie Jr.” UFC 331 takes place at Crypto.com Arena on September 19, 2026, headlined by Joshua Van defending his flyweight title against Alexandre Pantoja.
Here is the full breakdown of both matchups.
Doo Ho Choi vs. Patricio Freire
Choi looks to add a marquee win against a Bellator legend
Choi enters the UFC 331 on a three-fight winning streak, his best run of form since his early UFC days. His most recent outing came in May, when he stopped Daniel Santos with a body shot in the second round to collect a $100,000 Fight of the Night bonus, extending a stretch that also includes a third-round TKO of Nate Landwehr at UFC 310 in December 2024 and a stoppage of Bill Algeo in July 2024, the win that snapped an eight-year winless drought dating back to 2016.
That drought traces back to Choi’s defining UFC moment: a back-and-forth war with Cub Swanson at UFC 206 in December 2016 that produced a UFC-record 188 combined significant strikes for a featherweight bout, was later named 2016 Fight of the Year, and eventually earned both men induction into the UFC Hall of Fame’s Fight Wing in 2022.
Choi lost that fight by unanimous decision, and the years that followed were rough. He was stopped by Jeremy Stephens in January 2018, then suffered a shocking second-round knockout loss to Charles Jourdain in December 2019 in front of his home fans in Busan, a result many outlets called the low point of his career. A three-year injury layoff followed before he returned in February 2023 to a majority draw against Kyle Nelson, a result that most media outlets actually scored in Choi’s favor despite a point deduction for an accidental headbutt.
Freire brings a Hall of Fame level résumé from Bellator
Freire arrives with a résumé that few fighters in the sport can match, regardless of promotion. Born July 7, 1987, in Mossoro, Brazil, he turned professional at 16 and went unbeaten on the Brazilian regional scene before signing with Bellator in 2010. He went on to win the Bellator featherweight title three separate times and the lightweight title once, briefly becoming a simultaneous two-division champion, the second fighter in company history to do so.
His featherweight reign once ran four years before he was submitted by A.J. McKee, a loss he avenged in an immediate rematch to reclaim the belt and become the first fighter in Bellator history with four separate championship runs. He also made an unsuccessful run at a third weight class, challenging for Bellator bantamweight gold before shifting his focus back to featherweight. By the time Bellator folded into the PFL, Freire held the promotion’s records for most wins, most title-fight victories, and most total appearances, numbers that support his standing as the best fighter to ever compete there.
Freire signed with the UFC in 2025 after requesting his release from the PFL, which had absorbed Bellator the year prior. UFC president Dana White later said a personal phone call from Freire played a role in getting the deal done, telling reporters,
“I think that obviously he’s going to get the opportunity now to come in and challenge himself against the best in the world, and no matter where he’s at in his career, beating Yair is a big deal.”
Freire made his promotional debut against Yair Rodriguez at UFC 314 in April 2025 and lost a decision. He picked up his first UFC win a few months later against Dan Ige at UFC 318, was then briefly rebooked against Losene Keita before that fight fell apart when Keita missed weight, and most recently dropped a decision to fellow Bellator veteran Aaron Pico at UFC 327 in April 2026. He is the younger brother of longtime rival-turned-training-partner Patricky Freire and enters the Choi fight at 1-2 in the UFC.
Joosang Yoo vs. Michael Aswell Jr.
Yoo wants to prove his debut was no fluke
Yoo, who fights under the nickname Zombie Jr. as a tribute to countryman and former title challenger Chan Sung Jung, did not begin training in combat sports until he turned 28. He built his early record on the Korean and broader Asian regional circuit through Brave CF, AFC, and Z-Fight Night, going unbeaten as an amateur and winning both the AFC and Heat featherweight titles as a professional before signing with the UFC. He also holds a purple belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
His UFC debut in June 2025 at UFC 316 remains one of the most talked-about first impressions in recent memory for a Korean fighter. Facing Indonesian striker Jeka Saragih, Yoo landed a perfectly timed counter left hand just 28 seconds into the fight for a knockout that ranked among the best finishes of 2025. He was unable to build on it in his next outing, getting stopped by Daniel Santos via second-round TKO at UFC 320 in October 2025, the same Santos who would later be finished by Choi in May. Yoo now sits at 1-1 in the UFC heading into the Aswell booking.
Aswell looks to snap a two-fight skid
Aswell, nicknamed The Texas Kid, trains out of Houston’s 4oz Fight Club alongside flyweight champion Joshua Van and lists Daniel Pineda as his head coach. He began training in martial arts at 14 and started fighting professionally at 17 after a coach told him he believed he could become a champion. He won a title on the Fury FC regional circuit in Texas before landing a spot on Dana White’s Contender Series, where a split-decision loss to Bogdan Grad in August 2024 was still considered strong enough to earn him a UFC contract.
His time in the UFC has been a mixed bag. He opened his run with a unanimous decision loss to Bolaji Oki in May 2025, then picked up his only UFC win to date against Lucas Almeida, stopping him via strikes just 1:42 into the first round that October. Since then, Aswell has dropped back-to-back decisions, first to Luke Riley in March 2026 and then to Gaston Bolanos in June 2026, leaving him on a two-fight losing streak and 1-3 in the promotion as he heads into UFC 331. A win over Yoo would mark his first finish-free win of consequence and a meaningful step toward stabilizing his roster spot.
What to watch for at UFC 331
Both bouts sit on a card that already features a title fight and a top-10 lightweight clash, but the two featherweight matchups carry their own stakes. Choi is chasing a career-defining win against a fighter many consider one of the greatest to never hold UFC gold, while Freire is looking to notch a second UFC win and steady a promotional run that has not gone entirely to plan. Yoo, meanwhile, is trying to show his highlight-reel debut was a preview of things to come rather than a one-off, and Aswell is fighting to keep his roster spot secure after two straight decision losses.
UFC 331 takes place September 19 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
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