Road To UFC Results | Season 5 Opening Rounds: Day 1

Just a brilliant effort from the 26-year-old, who has looked outstanding since joining forces with the team at City Kickboxing. He called for a matchup with surging Australian Quillan Salkilld, whom he was scheduled to fight earlier this year before being forced out with an injury, following the victory.

Not long after the broadcast team of John Gooden and Alan Jouban discussed the slow starts and prior setbacks the Chinese veteran has experienced in previous RTU and Dana White’s Contender Series appearances, Xie unleashed a right hand that caught Cahyadi flush and forced him to cover up. As Xie came forward, Cahyadi collapsed to the floor, ending the fight.

This was a beautiful finish by the 28-year-old, who landed on the wrong side of a split decision in the Season 3 finale opposite Zhu Kangjie last May. Xie has shown flashes of upside through his various appearances in front of the UFC brass, and this just might have been enough to finally earn him the call to compete inside the Octagon.

The 22-year-old was given a scare in the first half of the contest, getting stuck in a tight arm-in guillotine choke in open space that took patience and poise to escape. But once they clambered back to their feet, Mangos tickled Yanagawa’s midsection with a left knee along the fence and then dropped him with a second, heavier knee to the liver.

After faltering last year on Dana White’s Contender Series, the Lion’s Den Academy product collected his second straight win while maintaining his 100 percent finishing rate. Mangos will now face Ailinuer in the semifinals in Shanghai later this year, with a spot in the finals on the line.

The Chinese hopeful did well to close the distance and neutralize Lim’s considerable size advantage, wrestling him to the ground repeatedly and transitioning quickly when the two landed in scrambles. Though he was unable to find a finish, this was a clear and decisive victory for the 27-year-old, who was never in any real danger at any point.

After missing out on the opportunity to compete last season due to injury, this was a tremendous start to Season 5 for Ailinuer, who scored his fourth straight win with the clear decision on Saturday in Macau.

While Minami was the faster, most dangerous of the two in space, Murdoch was able to close the distance and dominate with his wrestling, logging more control time and piling up increasing amounts of damage as the fight progressed. Minami was docked a point in the second round for grabbing the fence, but it was inconsequential, as the 25-year-old New Zealander forced the tap in the late stages of the fight.

his turned into a one-sided beatdown once Murdoch recognized he was able to get inside, get the fight to the canvas, and keep Minami there. One of the clear favorites heading into the competition, Murdoch moved one step closer to claiming a spot on the roster with his outstanding effort here, setting up a clash with Rabindra Dhant in the next round.

Mongolia’s Chagnaadorj did well to lean on his grappling in the opening stanza, avoiding the big swings from Regezhen while dragging the fight to the canvas and controlling things there for stretches in the competitive first five minutes. Regezhen found his rhythm in the second as Chagnaadorj seemed to be slowing, seemingly drawing level before Chagnaadorj was the more active and effective of the two down the stretch.

For the second time in the evening, the judges were called upon to render a verdict, with Chagnaadorj coming away on the happy side of the split decision verdict and advancing to the semifinals. That’s now three straight wins for the 26-year-old Mongolian fighter, who will meet South Korea’s YoungJae Song in the next round.

Dhant showed the full spectrum of his skills in booking his place in the semifinals. In the second round, it was his grappling that put him in a position to advance, as Dhant was able to drag Alintozon to the canvas and float into mount, posture up and eventually pound out the finish, showing tremendous positional control and keen finishing instincts.

Just a brilliant effort for the first fighter from Nepal to compete on Road to UFC. Dhant certainly had a big following in attendance and undoubtedly earned legions of more supporters with his performance here.

This one was all-out action throughout, with Tajima and Ti becoming the first pair of fighters to advance into the third round on the evening. Each man had moments of success in each phase, with Tajima mixing in timely takedowns while hang with Ti on the feet, while the Chinese athlete chopped away at his Japanese foe’s lead leg with punishing low kicks.

The judges were called upon to determine a victor and when the scorecards were collected and totalled, it was Tajima that emerged on the happy side of the split decision verdict, much to the dismay of the partisan crowd. This was a competitive and entertaining fight, setting up a semifinal matchup between Tajima and Chungren Koren later this year.

The South Korean featherweight, who competed on Season 3 of Road to UFC, seemed a little unfocused at points in this opening round contest, as he was warned for a fence grab in the first and docked a point for kneeing Aoi when he was grounded in the second. But as the two battled in the clinch late in the second, Song pulled Aoi away from the fence and straight into a back-mount position, immediately lacing up the rear-naked choke and securing the finish.

Just when it seemed like the point deduction was sure to cost “Super Rookie,” he found a way to maintain his 100 percent finishing rate and claim a spot in the next round.

After a competitive first round, Miyaguchi looked to be finding his range in the early moments of the second, tagging Choren with several straight right hands. But the Indian fighter stood in and dropped Miyaguchi with a lunging left hand, kicking off an extended stretch where Choren looked to halt things with strikes before switching off to the submission and securing the tap.

This was a gutsy effort from “The Indian Rhino,” who accepted this fight on short notice and made the most of it. Unfortunately, Choren missed weight on Wednesday, otherwise this would have been a perfect night for the emotional 28-year-old as he advanced to the semifinals.