Yang Dongi (born December 7, 1984), often anglicised to Dongi Yang or Dong-Yi Yang, is a South Korean

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorp ...

who currently competes in the

Middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have be ...

division of

ONE Championship ONE Championship (formerly ONE Fighting Championship) is a Singaporean combat sports promotion. Founded on 14 July 2011 by entrepreneur Chatri Sityodtong and former ESPN Star Sports senior executive Victor Cui, its events have featured mixed ...

. A professional MMA competitor since 2007, Yang has formerly competed for

DEEP Deep or The Deep may refer to: Places United States * Deep Creek (Appomattox River tributary), Virginia * Deep Creek (Great Salt Lake), Idaho and Utah * Deep Creek (Mahantango Creek tributary), Pennsylvania * Deep Creek (Mojave River tributary), ...

and

World Victory Road World Victory Road (WVR) is a defunct Japanese mixed martial arts (MMA) organization which promoted the Sengoku Raiden Championship (SRC) in Japan. The organization was formed in 2007 following the purchase of PRIDE FC by Zuffa. It operated in ...

Mixed martial arts career

Early career

Yang began his professional career in South Korea in a tournament. Yang won three successive fights (the first via triangle choke submission and the next two via TKO to punches). Yang followed this up with a win at the Super Sambo Festival, again via TKO (punches).

Rise to prominence in Asia

Yang then joined the larger

promotion. Here, Yang won two successive bouts, both via TKO (punches). Yang then joined

Sengoku The was a period in Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the feudal system of Japan under the Ashikaga shogunate. Various ...

and competed in their Sengoku Fourth Battle event. His opponent was Polish judoka

Pawel Nastula Pavel ( Bulgarian, Russian, Serbian and Macedonian: Павел, Czech, Slovene, Romanian: Pavel, Polish: Paweł, Ukrainian: Павло, Pavlo) is a male given name. It is a Slavic cognate of the name Paul (derived from the Greek Pavlos). Pav ...

. After 2:15 of the second round, Yang was victorious via TKO (exhaustion) The fight was slightly controversial due to Yang landing a knee in the clinch that earned him a yellow card. After this, Nastula was noticeably sluggish and would later complain of a groin problem. For "inexplicable reasons" the referee stopped the fight and gave a TKO verdict. Yang then defeated two opponents; one in Japan and one in the Northern Mariana Islands. As was becoming a pattern in his career, Yang won both fights via TKO (punches).

Ultimate Fighting Championship

In June 2010, Yang signed with the UFC, joining

Chan Sung Jung Jung Chan-sung ( ko, 정찬성; born March 17, 1987), anglicized as Chan Sung Jung and better known by his ring name The Korean Zombie, is a South Korean professional mixed martial artist and kickboxer. He currently competes in the Featherweig ...

as the members of Korean Top Team competing in

Zuffa Zuffa, LLC () is an American sports promotion company specializing in mixed martial arts. It was founded in January 2001 in Las Vegas, Nevada, by Station Casinos executives Frank Fertitta III and Lorenzo Fertitta to be the parent entity of the ...

organizations. Yang's UFC debut was at

UFC 121 ''UFC 121: Lesnar vs. Velasquez'' was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on October 23, 2010 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, United States. The event was the fourth time the UFC has hosted at the Hon ...

against ''The Ultimate Fighter'' competitor

Chris Camozzi Christopher Allen Camozzi (born November 20, 1986) is an American professional Glory kickboxer and mixed martial artist who competes in the Light heavyweight division. A professional MMA competitor since 2006, Camozzi has formerly competed in th ...

. Yang began the fight with a successful takedown, followed by ground-and-pound. After standing up, Camozzi was able to keep Yang at bay with kicks, before engaging in the clinch. However, Yang's thick neck and shoulders prevented effective attacks. Later, Camozzi was able to effectively time the advance of Yang. In the third, Yang began to swing wildly, to no avail. Camozzi was declared the winner via split decision (29–28, 28–29, 29–28). Yang next fight was against

Rob Kimmons Rob Kimmons (born January 30, 1981) is a retired American mixed martial artist who last competed in the Welterweight division. A professional from 2000 until 2013, he competed for the UFC, WEC, and Titan FC. Background Raised in the small tow ...

on March 3, 2011 at UFC Live: Sanchez vs. Kampmann. Yang won the fight by TKO near the end of the second round, giving him his first UFC win. Yang faced

Court McGee Courtney Scott "Court" McGee (born December 12, 1984) is an American mixed martial artist who competes in the Welterweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. A professional MMA competitor since 2007, McGee mostly fought in local prom ...

on September 17, 2011 in the co-main event at

UFC Fight Night 25 ''UFC Fight Night: Shields vs. Ellenberger'' (also known as ''UFC Fight Night 25'' or ''UFC Fight Night: Battle on the Bayou'') was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on September 17, 2011 at the Ernest N. Moria ...

. The match was a pure back and forth kickboxing match. Yang was able to have some success and connected with some punches that wobbled McGee, in the end it was not enough to get the victory. Yang faced

Brad Tavares Bradley Kaipo Sarbida Tavares (born December 21, 1987) is an American professional mixed martial artist. Tavares currently competes in the middleweight division for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). A professional since 2007, Tavares foug ...

on May 15, 2012 at UFC on Fuel TV: Korean Zombie vs. Poirier. Yang was defeated by Tavares via unanimous decision and was subsequently released from the promotion.

Post-UFC

On June 29, 2013 Yang defeated

ROAD FC Road Fighting Championship (Road FC; ) is a South Korean-based mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion which was officially launched in 2010. Prior to December 2016, Road FC had held 52 events in three countries - South Korea, Japan, and China. Abou ...

veteran Jae Young Kim by TKO in the second round at Top FC 1 in South Korea. Yang followed that up with an impressive first round TKO of fellow

UFC The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

veteran

Dennis Hallman Dennis Lloyd Hallman (born December 2, 1975) is an American former professional mixed martial artist who competed from 1996 to 2015. A veteran of 75 fights, he competed in various promotions including the UFC, Strikeforce, IFL, the World Series o ...

at Top FC 6 on April 5, 2015.

Return to UFC

In late August, it was confirmed that Yang had re-signed with the UFC and will continue competing in the promotion's

division. He faced

Jake Collier Jake Collier (born October 23, 1988) is an American mixed martial artist who competes in the Heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Background With no background in sports, Collier started Brazilian jiu-jitsu to lose weight ...

UFC Fight Night 79 ''UFC Fight Night: Henderson vs. Masvidal'' (also known as ''UFC Fight Night 79'') was a mixed martial arts event held on November 28, 2015, at Olympic Gymnastics Arena in Seoul, South Korea. Background The event was the first that the organizati ...

on November 28, 2015. He won the fight via TKO in the second round. Yang was expected to face promotional newcomer

Ryan Janes Ryan Janes (born August 22, 1981) is a retired Canadian mixed martial artist. He most recently competed in the Middleweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. A professional MMA competitor since 2008, he formerly competed for King o ...

on October 15, 2016 at UFC Fight Night 97. However, the promotion announced on October 6 that they had cancelled the event entirely.

Mixed martial arts record

, - , Loss , align=center, 14–4 , Cally Gibrainn de Oliveira , TKO (punches) , Double G FC 2 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 4:24 ,

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

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, TKO (punches) , UFC Fight Night: Henderson vs. Masvidal , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 1:50 ,

, South Korea , , - , Win , align=center, 12–3 ,

, TKO (punches) , Top FC 6: Unbreakable Dream , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 3:25 ,

, South Korea , , - , Win , align=center, 11–3 , Jae Young Kim , TKO (body kicks and punches) , Top FC 1: Original , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 4:06 ,

, South Korea , , - , Loss , align=center, 10–3 ,

, Decision (unanimous) , UFC on Fuel TV: Korean Zombie vs. Poirier , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

Fairfax, Virginia The City of Fairfax ( ), colloquially known as Fairfax City, Downtown Fairfax, Old Town Fairfax, Fairfax Courthouse, FFX, or simply Fairfax, is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth ...

, United States , , - , Loss , align=center, 10–2 ,

, Decision (unanimous) , UFC Fight Night: Shields vs. Ellenberger , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 10–1 ,

, TKO (punches) , UFC Live: Sanchez vs. Kampmann , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 4:47 ,

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

, United States , , - , Loss , align=center, 9–1 ,

, Decision (split) ,

, , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

Anaheim, California Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most p ...

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 9–0 , Bill Saures , TKO (punches) , Trench Warz 12: Battle Brawl , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:07 ,

Saipan Saipan ( ch, Sa’ipan, cal, Seipél, formerly in es, Saipán, and in ja, 彩帆島, Saipan-tō) is the largest island of the Northern Mariana Islands, a Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), commonwealth of the United States in the western Pa ...

, Northern Mariana Islands , Middleweight debut. , - , Win , align=center, 8–0 , Ryuta Noji , TKO (punches) , Heat 8 , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 3:17 ,

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 7–0 ,

, TKO (exhaustion) , World Victory Road Presents: Sengoku 4 , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 2:15 , Saitama, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 6–0 , Keigo Takamori , TKO (punches) , Deep: 31 Impact , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:57 ,

, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 5–0 , Junpei Hamada , TKO (punches) , Deep: CMA Festival 2 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 3:56 ,

, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 4–0 , Chang Seob Lee , TKO (punches) , Super Sambo Festival , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 4:56 ,

Gyeongju Gyeongju ( ko, 경주, ), historically known as ''Seorabeol'' ( ko, 서라벌, ), is a coastal city in the far southeastern corner of North Gyeongsang Province in South Korea. It is the second largest city by area in the province after Andong, ...

, South Korea , , - , Win , align=center, 3–0 , Yun Seob Kwak , TKO (punches) , WXF: North Jeolla MMA Championships , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 2:35 ,

North Jeolla North Jeolla Province (; ''Jeollabuk-do''), also known as Jeonbuk, is a province of South Korea. North Jeolla has a population of 1,869,711 (2015) and has a geographic area of 8,067 km2 (3,115 sq mi) located in the Honam region in the southwest ...

, South Korea , , - , Win , align=center, 2–0 , Dool Hee Lee , TKO (punches) , WXF: North Jeolla MMA Championships , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:36 ,

, South Korea , , - , Win , align=center, 1–0 , Hyung Kyo Lee , Submission (triangle choke) , WXF: North Jeolla MMA Championships , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:40 ,

, South Korea ,

References

External links

*
Official UFC Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yang, Dongi 1984 births Living people People from Seoul Sportspeople from Seoul South Korean male mixed martial artists Middleweight mixed martial artists Light heavyweight mixed martial artists Heavyweight mixed martial artists South Korean male taekwondo practitioners South Korean male judoka South Korean sambo practitioners Ultimate Fighting Championship male fighters Mixed martial artists utilizing judo Mixed martial artists utilizing taekwondo Mixed martial artists utilizing sambo Mixed martial artists utilizing Yongmudo