Hyder Amil knocks out Korean foe in UFC Fight Night

Rick OlivaresMANILA, Philippines – The beast has been awakened.

After taking a shot from Korean Jeong Yeong Lee early in the first round of their featherweight match to open the main card of UFC Fight Night, Cebu-born Filipino-American Hyder Amil reeled off 21 unanswered shots.

Lee couldn’t defend himself, much less answer, forcing referee Mark Smith to wade in and end the contest via TKO due to strikes at the 1:05 mark of the first round. 

It was an impressive opportunity for Amil, the son of an Indian father and Filipino mother who migrated to the United States at an early age. The match was originally scheduled to close the preliminary cards but with one bout getting dropped, the Amil-Lee match was promoted to the opener of the main card. And it did not disappoint.

It was a highly anticipated match as Amil, who entered the UFC via the Dana White’s Contender Series, and Lee, the Road to the UFC 2 featherweight winner, were expected to engage in an all-out war. Lee was the favorite to win but Amil accepted the underdog role without hesitancy. 

“I fight well as the underdog,” he told this writer. 

Amil, who goes by the moniker “the Hurricane”, was too much for the Korean.

Said Amil post-match, "That was scrappin'! I'm a smiley guy, but when you wake me up, I'm going to bring the heat. I saw the opening when I saw he was stunned, so I capitalized on that. He won Road to UFC, and I'd never fought an Asian person before, so I wanted to represent. I'm from the Philippines, so it was super important that I get this win in emphatic fashion."

It was the San Francisco-based Amil’s second win in the UFC and he remains undefeated at 10-0. During his debut in February of this year, he defeated Fernie Garcia likewise in impressive fashion — also a standing knockout in the second round.