Hyun Gyu Lim is exactly forty days away making your television ignite in a fiery cloud of awesome in his UFC debut on November 10th at UFC on Fuel TV 6 — better known as ‘UFC China’ for people that laugh at numerical order. In Hyun Gyu Lim’s brief fight career, the twenty-seven-year-old has gone 10-3 with all but one of his wins ending in some brutal finish. He’s Chan Sung Jung’s long-time training partner at Korean Top Team — so it’s safe to assume we’re going to see an extraordinary heightened level of zombification on November 10th.
Over the weekend on a Korean MMA radio show, Hyun Gyu Lim recounted a story in which he visited California to help his fellow teammate, Dongi Yang, prepare for his UFC on Fuel TV fight against Brad Tavares back in 2011. Fortunately for the MMA world, Hufusopem from Sherdog heard the show and conveyed a story in which Hyun Gyu Lim vehemently believed he got on Joe Rogan’s bad side by pulling off a nasty flying triangle/armbar.
He was in America sparring in a camp in California in preparation for Dongi Yang’s fight.
So Lim was finished with the training session and was about to go to the showers when lo and behold Joe Rogan comes into the gym. Lim’s coach tells him to spar with Joe Rogan.
Lim had no idea Joe Rogan was a bjj black belt and rolled with him thinking Joe was just a strong guy who trained for fun. But after rolling for a few minutes Lim realized Rogan was really strong and really good at bjj and before he knew it Rogan got his back for like 3 minutes, and rolled for an armbar.
Of course Lim’s pride was a bit hurt so he got out of the armbar and threw a perfect flying triangle choke and got Rogan in the sub. But Rogan being the strong HGH ox he is wouldn’t tap so Lim switched to an armbar and cranked and Joe screamed.
So afterwards Lim felt so bad that he went up to Joe and apologized profusely. But Rogan just gave him a death stare and basically ignored him.
They are laughing that there is no way Joe Rogan is going to say good things about Lim now when he fights in the UFC.
I got in touch with Joe Rogan this morning after his daily morning ritual of probiotic consumption, lifting cranes over his head, and roasting what he’s deemed ‘the sacred plant.’ Actually, we’re not sure about that last part — but everyone at MiddleEasy lives in a universe filled with assumptions. Here’s Rogan’s response about the Hyun Gyu Lim story:
I was a bit surprised to read about this, since most of the time people treat training as what it is; practice, and don’t try to turn things into something to publicize someone’s UFC appearance which is what I’m assuming they’re doing here. I’m also assuming you’re getting this from one of his coaches or friends which is why the story is slightly off. I’ve rolled with a number of guys over the years that have fought in the UFC and other organizations and this is the first time anyone has made a “story” out of training with me.
I should first state that all of those Korean guys are nothing but gentlemen. Very cool guys at the fights and they were very cool at the gym as well.
I remember rolling with Mr. Lim because I tend to remember most people that catch me with something, but I certainly was never mad at him. My recollection was that they were there to train for Dongi Yang’s fight, and I was just there taking class as usual.
I didn’t just walk into the gym as in their version, but it could be that they hadn’t noticed me or something. It was the last roll of the night, and they asked me to train with one of their fighters. I don’t remember the roll too much other than he was very good, and it was pretty fast paced. I remember at one point I got his back for a while, but I couldn’t finish him, and I remember being really tired by that point.
We separated and he caught me in a sweet triangle/arm bar combination. It was very quick and very nice. My elbow got tweaked but I was certainly never upset at him. That could have easily been a language barrier thing, though as I was in some pain.
I iced my elbow and we all sat around and talked some afterwards. My elbow was fine after a day or so. I’m not sure why they would say I was mad at him other than that it makes for a better story that way.
Either way, nice guy, and very skillful. That whole team is filled with very talented fighters.
It’s also important to note that the official Korean Top Team translator said that initially Joe Rogan didn’t accept Hyun Gyu Lim’s apology, but later was gracious about Lim’s second apology after he put some ice on his arm. There, beef cleared. Now enjoy the rest of last night’s Boardwalk Empire. Just don’t ruin it for me. Thank you.
