Jun Yong Cho

Jun Yong Cho was born in June 1995 in Cheongju, South Korea, and grew up in Daejeon. He practiced hapkido from childhood and reached third-degree black belt. His interest in Jiu-Jitsu came as a teenager, after he was beaten by a friend who trained it.

At 16 he moved to Seoul and, while looking for a hapkido school, found one that also offered Jiu-Jitsu classes. He trained with Jinwoo Park up to purple belt, had a short stint with Myeonghoon Choi and, at brown belt, joined Wire Jiu-Jitsu, led by Yong Won Choi, who gave him his black belt on June 7, 2019.

As a black belt he won the Paris Open in 2022 and 2023 and took bronze at the 2023 Europeans. In 2025 he won the Asian Championship at featherweight, beating Mohamed Alsuwaidi in the final.

In 2026 he returned to the Europeans podium with bronze, after losing the semifinal to Kennedy Maciel. At Pans he won two matches and lost in the quarterfinals to Sam Nagai by one advantage. In July he won his second Asian title: he submitted Homare Sugio, Keito Oyanagi, Munkhbayar Altantugs and, in the final, Thiago Ortiz, with a triangle.

He makes his Crown debut on November 8.