UFC vet Nam Phan set for boxing match on Chocolatito vs Rungvisai 2 undercard

Six months ago, UFC veteran Nam Phan announced that he feels “it’s time to hang up the gloves” and close the book on his 16-year MMA career. The TUF 12 standout also said that he still plans to compete in other sports, and he will be doing just that when he laces up the boxing gloves this weekend.

Phan will be competing on the undercard of a relatively high-profile HBO boxing event that’s headlined by one of the top pound-for-pound boxers in “Chocolatito” Roman Gonzalez rematching Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (Wisaksil Wangek).

The undercard will also feature two more top notch super flyweight bouts, making it one of the biggest events to feature the smaller weight classes. WBO champ and Ring’s top 10 pound-for-pound boxer Naoyo Inoue makes his American TV debut against Antonio Nieves, and fellow Mexican sluggers Juan Francisco Estrada and Carlos Cuadras face off in a title eliminator. Popular Filipino-American former champ Brian Viloria will be on the card as well.

The UFC veteran in Phan will be opening the event by facing a young, undefeated Dutch-Thai prospect in Nick Frese, who is 5-0 since making his debut just 10 months ago. The bout will be contested at welterweight (147 lbs) which is close to Phan’s MMA weight class of 145 lbs.

This would mark Phan’s 7th professional boxing match, competing on and off in the squared circle since 2006. After winning his first 3 boxing matches, he has yet to win a contest since 2007, and currently holds a 3-2-1 record.

In Mixed Martial Arts, Phan has an overall record of 21-17 which includes a 2-6 UFC stint. He has faced numerous top fighters from featherweight and bantamweight, but the 34-year-old has certainly seen better days. He has dropped 4 of his last 5 bouts leading to his retirement, with 3 of those losses lasting less than a minute each.