Friday’s second episode of Road to UFC not only featured four tournament bouts from this season, but also brought a close to Season 3 as well, with the combatants continuing to build on the momentum generated earlier in the day.
The action opened with a pair of finishes, as Nghiem Van Y earned his place in the bantamweight semifinals and SangWook Kim booked a second trip to the lightweight Final Four, each man registering second-round finishes in their opening round bouts. Each of the next two fights went the distance, with City Kickboxing’s Lawrence Lui outworking Zhang Qinghe in a gruelling, competitive battle before Australia’s “Street Buddha” Dom Mar Fan posted a convincing upset win over the previously unbeaten Yuji Ephoevi-ga.
And in the main event, Xie Bin and Zhu Kangjie finally faced off in the finals of Season 3’s featherweight tournament.
Postponed from last year’s finale event in Macau as a result of Zhu being injured, the Chinese compatriots battled it out in Shanghai on Friday instead. They battled through all three rounds, and when the scores were tallied, it was Zhu that emerged victorious, securing the tournament win and a place on the UFC roster.
It was an entertaining day of action, and we have the details on how things played out collected for you below.
The Season 3 bantamweight tournament came to a close in the final bout of the year’s opening slate of action at the UFC Performance Institute Shanghai, with Zhu Kangjie earning his place on the UFC roster with a hard-earned decision win over close friend Xie Bin.
This was a largely tentative, low output affair, where both men were hesitant to let their weapons go freely. Zhu landed with greater force throughout, especially with his kicks, with Xie was the one to initiate the grappling entanglements, where he struggled to keep his countryman on the canvas and work to advantageous positions.
They went the distance, leaving things in the hands of the judges, who returned a verdict in favor of Zhu. In pushing his winning streak to five, the 29-year-old also secured a UFC contract and a spot in the 145-pound weight class heading into the back half of 2025.
Entering as a considerable underdog, Dom Mar Fan used his superior grappling acumen to register an impressive decision win over Yuji Ephoevi-ga in Friday’s final first-round bout.
Mar Fan was quick to close the distance and force his undefeated opponent into a close-quarters battle, effectively neutralizing Ephoevi-ga’s range attacks. In the second, he split Ephoevi-ga open in two places with elbows from top position, dominating the frame before both men had striking success in the third as their respective gas tanks began to run dry.
All three judges saw the fight in favor of Mar Fan, who advanced to the next round, where he’ll face JaeHyun Park. A teammate of streaking UFC lightweight Tom Nolan, “The Street Buddha” is a dark horse to track in the lightweight tournament going forward.
Lawrence Lui and Zhang Qinghe threw down in the middle of Friday’s second Road to UFC episode, combining to turn in a thoroughly entertaining bantamweight battle.
Zhang stunned Lui almost immediately, but the City Kickboxing man did well to clear the cobwebs and work his way back into things quickly. In the second, they continued hammering each other on the feet, with Lui opening a massive cut on the forehead of Zhang, only for the Chinese fighter to respond by dropping Lui soon after. Early in the third, Lui sat Zhang down with a stiff jab, re-opening the axe wound over his opponent’s eye before turning to his grappling later in the round in order to grind out the final minutes of the fight.
The judges were tasked with determining the victor, and when the scorecards were added up, it was Lui that came out ahead. This was a hard-fought battle and a gutsy effort by the 28-year-old born in Hong Kong and based in Auckland, New Zealand, who will take on Nghiem Van Y in the next round.
SangWook Kim leaned on his experience and superior gas tank to advance to the semifinals of the Road to UFC lightweight tournament for the second time.
The South Korean, who lost to Rongzhu in the Final Four on Season 2, dealt with the early grappling attacks of Daichi Kamiya, navigating them with aplomb while having moderate success of his own as his Japanese foe began to tire. In the second round, he reversed the initial takedown attempt and cruised from there, punishing Kamiya on the feet before working to a mounted crucifix and securing the finish.
That’s now three straight wins for the 31-year-old “Frog Man,” who will now face off with China Ren Yawei in the next round. This was an excellent showing from the veteran, who is the only returning competitor in the lightweight field.
What a turnaround for Nghiem Van Y!
After getting dominated in the opening round by Rui Imura as the Japanese prospect leaned on his grappling, Nghiem did well to adjust to the takedown attempts and keep things standing in the second. Late in the frame, Nghiem dropped the tiring Imura in the center of the Octagon with a big right hand, quickly unloading a series of elbows to the side of Imura’s head as he looked to wrestle up, forcing the stoppage.
This was an excellent display of poise and perseverance by the Vietnamese fighter. With the win, he advanced to the semifinals, where he’ll face the winner of the upcoming bout between Zhang Qinghe and Lawrence Lui.
Friday’s action at the UFC Performance Institute in Shanghai picked up where it left off on Thursday, as the competitors on the second day of Road to UFC Season 4 continued to deliver inside the Octagon.
Australia’s Kitt Campbell kicked things off with a stoppage win in under a minute in the day’s opening non-tournament bout before Ren Yawei punched his ticket to the semifinals with a first-round finish of his own. The next two contests were won by returning competitors, as Sim Kai Xiong and JaeHyun Park parlayed previous experience into quality wins to advance in their respective tournaments, with the episode culminating with a Sulangrangbo stopping Peter Danesoe in impressive fashion.
It was another entertaining slate of fights to kick things off and we have all the details of how things played out collected for you below.
Remember the name Sulangrangbo.
The Chinese bantamweight showcased outstanding striking and poise while securing his place in the semifinals with a first-round knockout win over Bangtao representative Peter Danesoe. With the duo looking to trade on the feet, Sulangrangbo’s speed and fluidity was the difference, as he routinely beat Danesoe to the punch, finishing the bout with a swift and precise uppercut.
Just an outstanding effort for the young Chinese competitor, who looks to follow in the footsteps of his cousin Sumudaerji and teammate Rongzhu, who earned his way back to the UFC through Road to UFC in Season 2.
Making his second appearance on Road to UFC, JaeHyun Park showed a tremendous amount of improvement, advancing to the semifinals in the lightweight tournament with a dominant showing against Australian veteran Jack Becker.
Park, who lost to finalist Shin Haraguchi after tagging in on short notice in Season 2, confidently wrestled the Scrappy MMA representative to the canvas in each of the first two rounds, advancing to back mount and full mount at different points, steadily peppering Becker with punishment while looking for submission opportunities. Late in the second, the non-stop wave of strikes being unloaded prompted the referee to step in and halt the action.
This was a tremendous effort from the 23-year-old South Korean, who has clearly grown since his initial appearance two years ago. While there have been more emphatic knockouts, there has not been a more impressive effort from start-to-finish thus far, with Park establishing himself as a potential force in the 155-pound tournament.
Bantamweights Sim Kai Xiong and Kuya Ito battled through three hard rounds in the first bout of the day to go the distance.
In each of the first two rounds, each man had moments on the feet, connecting with strikes that staggered their opponent, with Sim showing an edge whenever the two got into a grappling exchange. Running level heading into the final stanza, they continued to trade fairly evenly on the feet throughout the third, sending this one to the judges to sort out.
When the scorecards were collected and tallied, it was Sim that came out ahead, earning the unanimous decision victory. After suffering a knockout loss in a non-tournament bout two years ago on Road to UFC, this was a strong bounce-back effort from the Singaporean hopeful, who advanced to the semifinals with his seventh career victory.
Ren Yawei stormed his way into the lightweight semifinals, securing a first-round technical submission win over Deni Daffa.
The Chinese prospect wasn’t bothered by the considerable height and reach advantage of Daffa, showing little trouble dealing with the offense coming back his way while working his way inside the range. A clean right hand stunned Daffa and when the lanky Indonesian fighter looked to change levels, Ren quickly locked onto a ninja choke, transitioning with it to the ground and into the mount where he put Daffa out.
The first lightweight to advance in the competition, Ren has now won five straight overall and seven of his last eight outings. This was a brilliant finish and established the Chinese talent as one to watch going forward.
There was no wasting time in Friday’s non-tournament opener as Australia’s Kitt Campbell wiped out Shogo Sato.
The two came together in the open seconds of the contest, Campbell connected with a knee that put Sato on the deck. From there, the tall and rangy welterweight unleashed a torrent of elbows that eventually forced referee Marc Goddard to step in and halt the action.
A fixture on the Australian MMA scene who has faced several established names, this was a statement effort from Campbell, who lobbied for the opportunity to face his originally scheduled opponent, Taiyilake Nuerajli, on the UFC event in Shanghai later this year. Whether that one comes together or not, this was a statement effort from the former HEX Fight Series standout.
