Saturday, May 10, 2014

Gym Spotlight: Kim Daehwan MMA and Boxing (Seongnam, South Korea)

Seohyeon Station in Seongnam, South Korea is known for its high end shopping that includes Gucci, Coach, Channel, and other shops I will never afford to go shopping in. However, just outside exit 5, on the top floor of the first building on the left lies Kim Deahwan MMA and Boxing. You can't miss it, there's a giant picture of a cute Korean kid punching his handsome Korean daddy in the belly. It looks like a scene out of the opening credits of "Commando." Deahwan Kim is the owner and face of the gym. His day job includes announcing for Road FC and commentating for UFC events on the "Action Network" while also juggling being a father and husband with owning his gym. The gym barely opened over a year ago, but it's already built a big student following due to Deahwan's popularity.

It is a really nice facility with locker rooms, heavy bags, elastic bands, pull up bars, exercise balls and tons of mat space for students to use. There are two TV screens used for studying video of UFC fighters, famous grapplers, and boxers. National wrestling team members, pro fighters, and special guests like "The Korean Zombie" Chan Sung Jung, Ben Henderson, and ADCC champs are known to drop in from time to time. The students themselves are generally more interested in losing weight and staying healthy than fighting or competing, but some students are looking to crack into an amateur level of competing.

Deahwan is very hands on during class. He teaches all aspects of Mixed Martial Arts and focuses on the "in-between" areas of the sport. By that I mean he emphasizes blending the striking and grappling games together to open opportunities to land takedowns, submissions, or strikes. His style resembles that of an old school Team Quest with a big focus on dirty boxing, Greco roman wrestling, and clinch work.

Deahwan’s coaching staff consists of Tea Min Kwak and Hyungsu Kim; both fantastic coaches in their own respects. Tea Min Kwak handles the striking and exercise drills while Hyungsu Kim takes care of the wrestling and conditioning classes. Tea Min generally warms up the classes and acts as an all-around coaching hand to Deahwan. Hyungsu, a national champion in both Greco and Freestyle wrestling, focuses on teaching raw wrestling technique rather than MMA wrestling. He also works as the team doctor, which in my opinion is really freakin cool. An experienced physical trainer goes such a long way towards building a solid team. Students at this gym have someone to help them recover and rehab lingering injuries. Especially since being a physical trainer and athlete gives him a perspective regular doctors just don’t have. Should someone get injured in practice, Hyungsu is there to help


Though the gym is not geared towards producing professional fighters, Deahwan does have top notch training for anyone looking to pick up MMA as a hobby or in search of a fun way to stay in shape. It is possible to develop a strong foundation to start an MMA career, and Deahwan, Hyungsu, and Teamin make fantastic sparring partners, but the gym motto is, “easy, fun, together.” It’s a friendly atmosphere and very open in terms of sharing knowledge and getting better. If you’re ever in the Bundang area and looking to punch a bag, check out Deahwan MMA and Boxing.