If you have been following the UFC closely over the past couple of months, you may have heard of a tournament hosted by the UFC named ‘Road to UFC’. First teased in early April by John Hyun Ko, where very little information was shared: That the UFC is hosting 8 man tournaments in the coming days before UFC 275, over four weight divisions, and the winners will earn themselves a contract. Over time, more information has been released about the tournaments. We found out about the “non-tournament bouts”, which take place on a ‘Road to UFC’ card, but aren’t actually part of the tournament. These fights are to act like ‘Dana White’s Contender Series’, where the winner will receive a contract. 

Confused about what ‘Road to UFC’ is all about? Read my article where I explain the tournament in-depth:

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Recently, the roster was teased by the UFC’s website, where a considerable amount of Asian talent was added to the UFC’s roster. It was safe to assume that these names were likely the fighters competing in the tournament, and non-tournament bouts. I wrote a piece on this information and the information I shared was mostly correct. However, some athletes that I assumed were fighting in the tournament are actually scheduled for non-tournament bouts. This means that my previous article was not 100% accurate. However, I did state in my article that my list was an assumption based on the information I was able to pull from the UFC’s website. 

The purpose of this article is to share a more accurate, and confirmed roster for ‘Road to UFC’. Alongside this, I will share the confirmed fights for the first round of the tournament, as well as the non-tournament bouts.

FLYWEIGHT:

LUN QUI (14-8, China) vs. WALLEN DEL ROSARIO (10-3, Philippines) – June 9

SEUNG GUK CHOI (4-1, S. Korea) vs. RAMA SUPANDHI (7-3, Indonesia) – Date TBA

HYUN SUNG PARK (5-0, S. Korea) vs. JEREMIA SIREGAR (6-2, Indonesia) – June 10

YUMA HORIUCHI (9-4, Japan) vs. TOP NOI (7-3, Thailand) – June 10

BANTAMWEIGHT:

LONG XIAO (24-7, China) vs. MIN WOO KIM (10-2, S. Korea) – Date TBA

KEREMUAILI MAIMAITITUOHETI (26-10, China) vs. TOSHIOMI KAZAMA (9-2, Japan) – June 9

GUGUN GUSMAN (8-3, Indonesia) vs. RINYA NAKAMURA (4-0, Japan) – Date TBA

WULIJIBUREN (20-8, China) vs. SHOHEI NOSE (7-2-2, Japan) – Date TBA

FEATHERWEIGHT:

KAI LU (7-3, China) vs. ANGGA HANS (13-2, Indonesia) – June 10

JUN YOUNG HONG (11-6-1, S. Korea) vs. KOYOMI MATSUSHIMA (12-5, Japan) – Date TBA

ZHA YI (18-3, China) vs. KEISUKE SASU (9-1-1, Japan) – June 10

JUNG YOUNG LEE (7-1, S. Korea) vs. BIN XIE (8-3, China) – June 10

LIGHTWEIGHT:

BALAJIN (17-2, China) vs. WON BIN KI (15-7, S. Korea) – June 9

AILI MURATBEK (9-2, China) vs. PAWAN MAAN SINGH (7-2-1, India) – June 9

ASIKERBAI JINENSIBIEKE (28-9, China) vs. KYUNG PYO KIM (10-3, S. Korea) – June 10

ANSHUL JUBLI (5-0, India) vs. PATRICK SHO USAMI (4-1, Japan) – June 10

NON-TOURNAMENT BOUTS:

Women’s Strawweight:

JOSEFINE KNUTSSON (3-0, Sweden) vs. YE DAM SEO (6-2, S. Korea) – June 10

Flyweight:

SHAUN ETCHELL (7-2, Australia) vs. TAKERU UCHIDA (5-1, Japan) – June 9

Welterweight (Not Confirmed):

HAN SEUL KIM (12-4, S. Korea) vs. JOHN ADAJAR (6-1, Philippines) – Date TBA

Light Heavyweight:

GEORGE TOKKOS (7-2, United Kingdom) vs. MINGYANG ZHANG (15-6, China) – June 9

CONCLUSION:

Overall, looking like a couple of solid cards to build up the hype of UFC 275. There are a couple of new names on the roster that did not appear on my original list, and others that are in different weight classes. Once again, I did my best to compile a roster with the information I could find on the UFC’s website. As for the validity of these fights being accurate, you can find them on ESPN’s website.

Personally, I am looking forward to seeing SHAUN ETCHELL from Australia fight as I am from New Zealand. Also excited for ZHANG MINGYANG, as he is a knockout machine. Look out for my article next week, and you can follow me on YouTube for video content.