Ko faces Wellington Turman in his second bout of the year
Lee takes on 45-fight veteran Irosa in tough featherweight matchup
Korean UFC fighters Lee Jeong-young and Ko Seok-hyun are set to enter the octagon one week apart in Las Vegas.
Lee will compete at featherweight against Julian Irosa (31-14, United States) at "UFC Fight Night: Moicano vs. Nolan," scheduled for Nov. 1 (Korean Standard Time) at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Lee earned his UFC contract by winning the featherweight final of Road to UFC Season 1 in 2023, defeating Izawa Matsuki. He then picked up his first UFC win against Blake Bilder before dropping back-to-back decisions to Hayder Amil and Daniel Santos. He will look to snap that two-fight losing streak against Irosa.
Irosa is a long-tenured UFC veteran with a 31-14 record across 45 professional MMA bouts.
A week later, on Nov. 8, Ko will compete at the same venue at "UFC Fight Night: Bonfim vs. Brady." His opponent is Wellington Turman (18-8, Brazil).
Ko entered the UFC through Dana White's Contender Series and strung together back-to-back decision wins over Oban Elliott and Phil Rowe last year. He suffered his first UFC loss to Jean-Paul Lebosnoyani in July and will look to bounce back against Turman.
Both events featuring the Korean fighters will be headlined by top-ranked matchups.
The Nov. 1 card will see lightweight No. 12 Renato Moicano (21-1-7, Brazil) square off against No. 14 Tom Nolan (11-1, Australia) in the main event.
It will be Moicano's second main event appearance at the UFC Apex this year and his fifth UFC main event overall, having previously beaten Chris Duncan, Benoit Saint Denis and Jalin Turner, among others. Nolan, a Contender Series alumnus, enters on a five-fight winning streak with victories over Viacheslav Borshchev, Charlie Campbell and Fares Ziam.
The Nov. 8 main event will pit welterweight No. 5 Gabriel Bonfim (20-1, Brazil) against No. 6 Sean Brady (19-2, United States).
Bonfim, also a Contender Series product, is riding a five-fight winning streak. He beat Stephen Thompson and Randy Brown, and in June added former UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad via decision to vault into the top five.
Brady is an established welterweight contender with wins over Gilbert Burns, Leon Edwards and Joaquin Buckley. He earned a Performance of the Night bonus in 2025 after submitting Edwards, then rebounded in May with a win over Buckley following a loss to Michael Morales last November.
The main cards for both events will be broadcast live in Korea starting at 9 a.m. Korean Standard Time on tvN Sports and Tving.
yjc@heraldcorp.com
