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It’s been over a year since we last saw Dong Hyun Kim grace the UFC Octagon, but tomorrow night he returns to action when he takes on Tarec Saffiedine at UFC 207 in Las Vegas, Nevada.



Kim last competed at UFC Fight Night: Henderson vs. Masvidal in November, 2015 when he defeated Dominic Waters. Having been sidelined himself for over a year, his fellow countryman, Doo Ho Choi, has rapidly risen to stardom and flown the South Korean flag proudly in the UFC.



Speaking as a longtime friend and training partner, Kim said yesterday at the UFC 207 media day that he couldn’t be prouder of his teammate’s achievements.



“I’ve known Doo Ho Choi for a long time, even way before he started his UFC career,” Kim said via an interpreter. “He’s one of my teammates and I knew when he was fighting for a different promotion that he was going to make it to the UFC.



“Now I’m sure he’s going to be the featherweight champion.”



Kim this weekend has his eyes on putting together his third straight win having beaten Josh Burkman and Dominic Waters in 2015. The South Korean was originally scheduled to face Gunnar Nelson at UFC Fight Night 99 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, but after Nelson pulled out he had to settle for this rescheduled bout with Saffiedine.



“I would like to fight Nelson because when we fight we would be competing at what we are both good at—grappling,” Kim said. “Before I fight Nelson though, I would like to fight Demian Maia because he’s even stronger than Nelson.”



Asked what type of fight he was expecting this weekend with Saffiedine, Kim promised it would be an entertaining bout, but that when it was all said and done he was going to be the man having his hand raised as the winner.



“I want to show everyone that there are strong Asian fighters that can control their opponents in the UFC,” Kim said. “I know that Tarec Saffiedine as brilliant takedown defense, but everybody in the UFC has brilliant takedown defense.



“On Friday I’m going to show everyone that I can take Tarec Saffiedine down.”