Road To UFC
Road To UFC Returns For Season 4 With Opening Round On May 22 & 23
Tournament Showcases Asia Pacific's Top MMA Talent With Live Broadcast From UFC Performance Institute Shanghai
UFC, the world’s premier Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) organization, today announced the fourth season of ROAD TO UFC, the most significant opportunity for Asia's top MMA prospects to make it to the world stage. The opening round will take place across two days, Thursday and Friday, May 22 and 23, at the UFC Performance Institute (UFC PI) in Shanghai, China. Along with athletes from China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, Season 4 will also include prospects from Australia and New Zealand.
ROAD TO UFC is a “win and advance” tournament that will take top MMA prospects from Asia Pacific and give them a pathway to a UFC contract. The format features 32 mixed martial arts athletes competing in each of four weight classes. Additionally, non-tournament bouts will be included to provide more opportunities for promising talent.
To date, 17 ROAD TO UFC participants have been awarded UFC contracts: eleven tournament winners; three finalists; and three non-tournament bout winners.
- China: Rongzhu, Shi Ming, Xiao Long, Yi Zha, Wang Cong, Zhang Mingyang
- India: Anshul Jubli
- Indonesia: Jeka Saragih
- Japan: Rei Tsuruya, Rinya Nakamura, Toshiomi Kazama
- South Korea: ChangHo Lee, DongHoon Choi, Hyun Sung Park, Jeong Yeong Lee, SuYoung You
- Mongolia: Nyamjargal Tumendemberel
Currently, UFC signees from ROAD TO UFC constitute almost one-third of all Asian athletes on the UFC roster, attesting to the tournament's success at finding the top regional talent. Contract winners have competed in 23 bouts since 2022; they've delivered seven finishes, and seven Performance of the Night awards.
The ROAD TO UFC Season 4 opening round will take place at the UFC PI Shanghai in front of a live audience. The UFC PI Shanghai opened in 2019, and at 93,000 square feet -- nearly three times as large as the original UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas -- it is the world’s largest, state-of-the-art MMA training and development facility. The UFC PI Shanghai develops and supports the next generation of MMA athletes from mainland China and the greater Asia-Pacific region by hosting an invite-only UFC Academy Combine to test and select up-and-coming prospects for a full scholarship to the UFC Academy, the world’s leading MMA talent development program. The facility also serves as Official High Performance Advisor to the Chinese Olympic Committee. The UFC recently opened a third UFC PI in Mexico City, and has expanded the UFC Academy program even further.
The ROAD TO UFC Season 4 opening round will be broadcast live in Asia-Pacific prime time from the UFC PI Shanghai, which was purpose-built for live remote production (REMI) via connection to its sister facility, UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada.
ROAD TO UFC Season 4 will feature men’s flyweight, bantamweight, featherweight, and lightweight divisions. To provide additional opportunities for top MMA prospects in Asia Pacific, there will also be four non-tournament bouts. The participants and bouts include:
Flyweight (>56.7kg)
- Aaron Tau (New Zealand)
- Agulali (China)
- Kai Yoshida (Japan)
- Mridul Saikia (India)
- Namsrai Batbayar (Mongolia)
- Rio Tirto (Indonesia)
- Wataru Yamauchi (Japan)
- Yin Shuai (China)
Bantamweight (>61.2kg)
- Chungreng Koren (India)
- Kuya Ito (Japan)
- Peter Danesoe (Thailand)
- Rui Imura (Japan)
- Sim Kai Xiong (Singapore)
- Sulangrangbo (China)
- Zhang Qinghe (China)
- Van Y Nghiem (Vietnam)
Featherweight (>65.8kg)
- Baergeng Jieleyisi (China)
- ChangMin Yoon (Korea)
- DongHyun Seo (Korea)
- EohJin Park (Korea)
- Jin Aoi (Japan)
- Li Kaiwen (China)
- Keiichiro Nakamura (Japan)
- Sebastian Szalay (Australia)
Lightweight (>70.3kg)
- Daichi Kamiya (Japan)
- Deni Daffa (Indonesia)
- Dom Mar Fan (Australia)
- Jack Becker (Australia)
- JaeHyun Park (Korea)
- Ren Yawei (China)
- SangWook Kim (Korea)
- Yuji Yannick Ephoeviga (Japan)
*Non-tournament bouts will include:
- Strawweight: Feng Xiaocan (China) vs Arisa Matsuda (Japan)
- Lightweight: Aziz Khaydarov (Tajikistan) vs Mansher Khera (India)
- Welterweight: Shogo Sato (Japan) vs Kitt Campbell (Australia)
**The RTU Season 3 Featherweight finale between Zhu Kangjie (China) and Xie Bin (China) will take place as the main event of episode 4
Each round of ROAD TO UFCSeason 4 will take place in front of a live audience, with location and venue details announced in advance of each event. The finals will be featured bouts on a UFC Fight Night, at which time UFC contracts will be awarded to the winners from each division.
Kevin Chang, UFC Senior Vice President and Head of Asia, said: “Entering our fourth season, with nearly a third of Asia's UFC rostered fighters coming from Road to UFC, we can definitively say that the tournament has been a resounding success. Each year, the level of talent in Asia continues to improve, and RTU gives these prospects the opportunity to rise to the top and prove they are ready for the big stage of UFC. We’re excited to welcome participants from Australia and New Zealand who will raise the bar even further.”
Each episode of ROAD TO UFC will air in Asia-Pacific primetime GMT +8, so audiences can get to know the athletes via in-event features and competitions. Here's a comprehensive guide on How To Watch.
All events are broadcast internationally on UFC Fight Pass.
UFC Asia broadcast partners:
CHINA: MIGU
HONG KONG: NOW SPORTS
CHINESE TAIPEI: VIDEOLAND
INDIA: SONY TEN 2
INDONESIA: MOLA
JAPAN: U-NEXT
SOUTH KOREA: TVN, TVN SPORTS, TVING
MALAYSIA: ASTRO SUPERSPORT 5, UNIFI TV, MOLA
MONGOLIA: PREMIER SPORTS
MYANMAR: CANAL+
PHILIPPINES: BLAST TV, PREMIER SPORTS
SINGAPORE: HUB SPORTS, MIO SPORTS, MOLA
THAILAND & CAMBODIA: TRUE SPORTS HD3
VIETNAM: K+ SPORTS
AUSTRALIA: ESPN, UFC Fight Pass
NEW ZEALAND: ESPN, UFC Fight Pass
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