Asian-Centric Road To UFC Opening Matchups Announced

With just a few weeks away before the highly-anticipated UFC 275 fight card in Singapore, the globally-recognized mixed martial arts (MMA) organization made sure to highlight Asian talent in its upcoming “Road to UFC” event.

The tournament will feature 32 of Asia’s best talent-laden MMA practitioners as they all vie for the chance to get one of four UFC contracts in the finals, with one winner from each weight division.

“Road to UFC” will begin on June 9 with two episodes of the tournament set to air on that date, three days before UFC 275.

The full schedule is as follows:

Episode 1 (June 9)

• Yi Zha (China) vs. Keisuke Sasu (Japan), Featherweight
• Balajin (China) vs. WonBin Ki (South Korea), Lightweight
• Maimati Tuohati (China) vs. Toshiomi Kazama (Japan), Bantamweight
• Seung Gok Choi (South Korea) vs. Rama Supandhi (Indonesia), Flyweight
• Zhang Mingyang (China) vs Tuco Tokkos (United Kingdom), Non-Tournament Light Heavyweight

Episode 2 (June 9)

• Min Woo Kim (South Korea) vs. Xiao Long (China), Bantamweight
• JunYoung Hong (South Korea) vs. Koyomi Matsushima (Japan), Featherweight
• Qiu Lun (China) vs. Wallen Del Rosario (Philippines), Flyweight
• Ailiya Muratbek (China) vs. Pawan Maan Singh (India), Lightweight
• Shaun Etchell (Australia) vs. Takeru Uchida (Japan), Non-Tournament Flyweight

Episode 3 (June 10)

• Jeong Yeong Lee (South Korea) vs. Xie Bin (China), Featherweight
• Yuma Horiuchi (Japan) vs. Top Kiwram (Thailand), Flyweight
• Anshul Jubli (India) vs. Sho Patrick Usami (Japan), Lightweight
• Rinya Nakamura (Japan) vs. Gugun Gusman (Indonesia), Bantamweight
• YeDam Seo (South Korea) vs. Josefine Knuttson (Sweden), Non-Tournament Women’s Strawweight

Episode 4 (June 10)

• Shohei Nose (Japan) vs. Wulijiburen (China), Bantamweight
• Asikerbai Jinensibieke (China) vs. Kyung Pyo Kim (South Korea), Lightweight
• Lu Kai (China) vs. Angga Hans (Indonesia), Featherweight
• HyunSung Park (South Korea) vs. Jeremia Siregar (Indonesia), Flyweight
• John Adajar (Philippines) vs. HanSeul Kim (South Korea), Non-Tournament Welterweight

The non-tournament fights are a welcome addition to the event since the organization would also want to showcase prospects whose weight classes may not have been included in the tournament.

The aforementioned events have a start time of 2:30 PM SGT, with tickets on a first-come, first-served basis since admission will be free.

UFC 275 will be headlined by Glover Teixeira’s defense of his light heavyweight title against Jiri Prochazka, while Taila Santos challenges Valentina Schevchenko for the women’s flyweight title.