Road to UFC

Last updated

Road to UFC is a recurring mixed martial arts (MMA) event series in which top Asian MMA prospects compete to win contracts with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

Contents

Overview

Structured into "seasons" and "episodes," it features a number of fighter weight divisions—each for which fighters compete in a "win-and-advance" tournament format. [1] Each event in the series, or "episode," features one bout for each division tournament, and one non-tournament bout. [2] [3] [4] The opening quarterfinal round is typically held hosting four events over a two-day span, with two episodes for each day. The semifinal round is held a few months later. Each season culminates with the tournament finals, which take place during preliminary card of a UFC Fight Night event. The tournament winner for each division is awarded a UFC contract.

The "Road to UFC" branding was previously used in 2015 for Road to UFC: Japan, a similar Japan-based tournament awarding a UFC contract, but formatted as a reality competition, and marketed as an Asian-centric analog to The Ultimate Fighter. [2] Despite the reuse of the "Road to UFC" brand, similar Asian MMA focus, and season/episode nomenclature, the UFC has not characterized the newer event series as inclusive of the earlier 2015 reality competition, and has described the 2022 tournament cycle as the "inaugural tournament," referring to it as "Season 1". [5]

Seasons

NameStart DateEnd DateVenueLocationRef.
Season 3 May 18, 2024 UFC Performance Institute Shanghai Shanghai, China [6]
UFC Apex Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.
Season 2 May 27, 2023June 22, 2024 UFC Performance Institute Shanghai Shanghai, China [7]
Singapore Indoor Stadium Kallang, Singapore
UFC Apex Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.
Kingdom Arena Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Season 1 June 8, 2022February 4, 2023 Singapore Indoor Stadium Kallang, Singapore [8]
Etihad Arena Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
UFC Apex Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.

Tournament winners

NameFinaleDivisionWinnerRunner-up
Road to UFC Season 1 Feb 4, 2023 Lightweight Flag of India.svg Anshul Jubli Flag of Indonesia.svg Jeka Saragih
Featherweight Flag of South Korea.svg Lee Jeong-yeong Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Yi Zha
Bantamweight Flag of Japan.svg Rinya Nakamura Flag of Japan.svg Toshiomi Kazama
Flyweight Flag of South Korea.svg Park Hyun-sung Flag of South Korea.svg Choi Seung-guk
Road to UFC Season 2 Feb 4, 2024 Lightweight Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Rong Zhu Flag of Japan.svg Shin Haraguchi
Featherweight Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Yi Zha Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Li Kai Wen
Flyweight Flag of Japan.svg Rei Tsuruya Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Ji Niushiyue
Jun 22, 2024 Bantamweight Flag of South Korea.svg Lee Chang-ho Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Xiao Long

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marcin Held</span> Polish mixed martial arts fighter

Marcin Held is a Polish mixed martial artist who competes in the Lightweight division of Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki (KSW). He is currently ranked #5 in the KSW Lightweight rankings. He formerly competed in the Lightweight division of the Absolute Championship Berkut, Professional Fighters League, and Ultimate Fighting Championship. A professional MMA competitor since 2008, Held has competed frequently in his home country of Poland and is highly touted by the media, often being regarded as "the prodigy of Polish MMA". He fought in Bellator MMA from 2010 to 2016, challenging for the Bellator Lightweight Championship in 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kang Kyung-ho</span> South Korean mixed martial artist

Kang Kyung-ho, often anglicized Kyung Ho Kang, is a South Korean mixed martial artist who competes in the UFC's bantamweight division.

Philipe Lins is a Brazilian mixed martial artist, who formerly competed in the light heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He won the 2018 Professional Fighters League heavyweight tournament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brandon Moreno</span> Mexican mixed martial artist (born 1993)

Brandon Moreno Carrillo is a Mexican professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Flyweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is the former two-time UFC Flyweight Champion. A professional since 2011, Moreno also competed for the Legacy Fighting Alliance, where he was the Legacy Fighting Alliance Flyweight Champion. As of February 27, 2024, he is #2 in the UFC flyweight rankings.

Bojan Veličković is a Serbian mixed martial artist and sambist currently competing in the Welterweight division. A professional competitor since 2010, he has competed for the UFC, Professional Fighters League, and RFA, where he was the Welterweight Champion. Currently, He competes in Oktagon MMA, where he won the 16-men Oktagon MMA Welterweight Tournament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexandre Pantoja</span> Brazilian mixed martial artist (born 1990)

Alexandre Pantoja Passidomo is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Flyweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is the current UFC Flyweight Champion. As of July 30, 2024, he is #12 in the UFC men's pound-for-pound rankings.

Matthew Christopher Schnell is an American former professional mixed martial artist. He competed in the Flyweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) until 2024. Schnell formerly competed for Legacy Fighting Alliance, where he is a former Legacy Fighting Alliance Flyweight Champion. As of September 10, 2024, he is #14 in the UFC flyweight rankings.

Yan Xiaonan is a Chinese professional mixed martial artist. She currently competes in the women’s Strawweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). As of April 16, 2024, she is #2 in the UFC women's strawweight rankings and #10 in the UFC women's pound-for-pound rankings.

Kurt Holobaugh is an American professional mixed martial artist (MMA) who competes in the Lightweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

Wuliji Buren is a Chinese mixed martial artist who competed in the Bantamweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Josh Hill (fighter)</span> Canadian mixed martial artist

Josh Hill is a Canadian mixed martial artist who competes in the Bantamweight division of Oktagon MMA. Hill competed for such promotions as Bellator MMA, the World Series of Fighting (WSOF), Real Xtreme Fighting (RXF), and TKO Major League MMA. Hill also appeared on Season 18 of The Ultimate Fighter.

Brendan Loughnane is a British professional mixed martial artist. He competes in the Featherweight division of the Professional Fighters League (PFL). Loughnane has been a professional competitor since 2010, and competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Absolute Championship Akhmat (ACB) and BAMMA.

Rinya Nakamura is a Japanese mixed martial artist and former freestyle wrestler who currently competes in the bantamweight division. Competing at 61 kilograms, Nakamura became the 2017 U23 World Champion during his wrestling career, before retiring at age 25 to pursue mixed martial arts.

Josh Parisian is an American mixed martial artist who previously competed in the heavyweight division of the UFC.

Rong Zhu is a Chinese mixed martial artist who competes in the Lightweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UFC 275</span> Mixed martial arts event in 2022

UFC 275: Teixeira vs. Procházka was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on June 12, 2022, at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore.

Road to UFC Season 1 is the 2022 cycle of Road to UFC, a mixed martial arts event series in which top Asian MMA prospects compete to win contracts with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). It features four divisions—flyweight, bantamweight, featherweight and lightweight—each for which eight fighters compete in a "win-and-advance" tournament format. The tournament winner for each division is awarded a UFC contract. Each event in the series features five bouts including one non-tournament bout.

Jeka Saragih is an Indonesian mixed martial artist who competes in the Featherweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he became the first person from Indonesia to qualify for the final of Road to UFC Season 1, after defeating Ki Won Bin in the semifinal by knockout. He is the first Indonesian fighter to sign with the UFC.

Road to UFC Season 2 is the 2023 cycle of Road to UFC, a mixed martial arts (MMA) event series in which top Asian MMA prospects compete to win contracts with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

Road to UFC Season 3 is the 2024 cycle of Road to UFC, a mixed martial arts (MMA) event series in which top Asian MMA prospects compete to win contracts with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

References

  1. ↑ See single-elimination tournament.
  2. 1 2 Pettry, Jay (22 April 2022). "UFC Launching 'Road to UFC' Tourney in Singapore, Featuring 4 Brackets in June". Sherdog. Retrieved 2022-05-03.
  3. ↑ "ROAD TO UFC Opening Round Bouts Announced | Taiwan News | 2022-05-23 10:00:00". Taiwan News. 2022-05-23. Retrieved 2022-05-23.
  4. ↑ Tabuena, Anton (2022-05-23). "Road to UFC: Four Asian tournament brackets, non-tournament bouts finalized". Bloody Elbow. Retrieved 2022-05-23.
  5. ↑ "Road To UFC Returns For Season 2 With Opening Round On May 27 & 28 | UFC". www.ufc.com. 2023-02-27. Retrieved 2023-07-16.
  6. ↑ Anderson, Jay (23 April 2024). "Road to UFC Season 3 Tournament Announced, Women's Strawweight Added". Cageside Press. Retrieved 28 April 2024.
  7. ↑ "Road To UFC Season 2 Kicked Off With Intense Quarterfinals". International Business Times. 2023-05-28. Retrieved 2023-07-16.
  8. ↑ Cox, Susan (2022-04-22). "The UFC officially announce the "Road to the UFC" Tournament in Singapore leading up to UFC 275". | BJPenn.com. Retrieved 2022-04-25.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.