Following an electric start to the action at Shanghai Indoor Stadium in Episode 5 of Road to UFC Season 4, business picked up in Episode 6.
In the first two bouts, Dom Mar Fan and Sulangrangbo collected impressive decision wins to advance to the finals in their respective weight classes before SangWook Kim silenced the crowd by submitting Ren Yawei to set up a clash with Mar Fan in the lightweight finale. From there, Keiichiro Nakamura turned in a dominant performance to claim a place in the featherweight finals opposite Sebastian Szalay, battering Kaiwen over three rounds, which was followed by a slick first-round submission win by Nyamjargal Tumendemberel in the first of two UFC bouts to close out the show.
And in the main event, Bruna Brasil collected a unanimous decision win over Road to UFC tournament winner Shi Ming, turning in her most complete effort to date inside the Octagon.
This page will be updated live throughout the event with live results, full fight recaps and official judges scorecards.
Bruna Brasil ventured to Shanghai and got herself back in the win column, edging out Road to UFC strawweight tournament winner Shi Ming in her promotional debut.
The Dana White’s Contender Series veteran was slightly more active and much more efficient with her striking over the three-round affair, landing clean counter hooks and a smattering of kicks in all three frames. She also leveraged her superior size and greater experience well, largely shutting down Shi’s attempts to grapple, often landing something sharp and clean off the break.
All three judges scored the fight in favor of Brasil, who continued her pattern of alternating results since touching down in the UFC. Now 3-3 inside the Octagon and 11-5-1 overall, this was a solid “get right” performance for the DWCS Class of ’22 alum.
Nyamjargal Tumendemberel collected his first UFC victory on Friday, putting Terrance Saeteurn to sleep with a deep anaconda choke midway through the first round.
The Mongolian flyweight scored a slick inside trip to drag Saeteurn to the canvas, and when the debuting American tried to work to his feet, Tumendemberel attacked the choke. Once he had the hold secured, he rose to a squat position and compressed into Saeteurn, causing him to lose consciousness.
Just an outstanding finish and moment for the former Road to UFC non-tournament standout.
Keiichiro Nakamura and Kaiwen got into a feisty “all gas, no brakes” clash in the featherweight semifinals, with the Japanese standout swarming and punishing his Japanese adversary to collect a unanimous decision win.
Following a competitive first round where Kaiwen started hot and Nakamura was staggered, the lanky 26-year-old started to take over, battering his Chinese foe. Nakamura chased the finish towards the end of the second and continued to punish the faded and swollen Kaiwen in the third, finding a great deal of success with his sharp left hand.
While Kaiwen gets massive toughness points for hearing the final horn, this fight went from competitive to a complete blowout, with Nakamura sweeping the scorecards. This victory for Nakamura sets up a showdown with Sebastian Szalay, who earned the quickest finish from Friday’s action, in the finals.
SangWook Kim secured passage to the lightweight finale with a gutsy effort against Ren Yawei.
South Korea’s “Frog Man” looked close to finishing in the first, clamping onto a D’arce choke and rolling through with Yawei, only to lose the hold. After getting hurt to the body with several digging shots, Kim was able to drag Yawei to the canvas, where he took his back, flattened him out, and quickly laced up the rear-naked choke finish.
This was a hard-fought victory for the Road to UFC veteran, who lost to eventual winner Rongzhu in Season 2. He’s now won four straight, with three finishes, and will now face Dom Mar Fan in the lightweight finals, with a place on the UFC roster hanging in the balance.
Sulangrangbo became the first Chinese fighter to advance to the Road to UFC finals on Friday, securing a unanimous decision win over Sim Kai Xiong.
The 20-year-old Enbo Fight Team representative used his length and speed to pick apart Singapore’s Sim Kai Xiong, dropping him with an uppercut in the first before continuing to dictate the terms of engagement throughout the remainder of the contest. Though he couldn’t get Sim out of there, Sulangrangbo was patient and sharp from start to finish, keeping “Kobra” on the back foot for much of the fight.
While the judges were called upon to render a verdict, the decision was never in doubt. The clean sweep of the scorecards sent Sulangrangbo forward to the finals, where he’ll face off with City Kickboxing’s Lawrence Lui.
Dom Mar Fan and JaeHyun Park engaged in a competitive back-and-forth battle to kick off Episode 6 of Road to UFC Season 4, with the lightweight semifinalists doing most of their work on the canvas.
All three rounds were filled with attacks and reversals, with each man logging minute-plus stretches of control time and escaping troublesome spots, with Mar Fan seemingly getting the better of the entanglements. Both men largely favored hunting for submissions over landing damage, leading to periods of restlessness from the crowd, but this was a thoroughly entertaining grappling bout between a pair of men desperate to earn their way to the lightweight finale.
When the scorecards were collected and totalled, it was Mar Fan that emerged victorious, becoming the fourth ANZAC semifinalist to earn a victory on Friday and advance to the finals. Now, “Street Buddha” awaits the winner of the matchup between quarterfinal finishers Ten Yawei and SangWook Kim.
Namsrai Batbayar silenced the crowd at Shanghai Indoor Stadium to close out the first of Friday’s twin Road to UFC events, submitting Chinese favorite Agulali.
The Mongolian landed a quick right followed by a sharp left hook that dropped Agulali as the two engaged close to the fence, giving Batbayar the opportunity to shift into his grappling attack. While Agulali defended well initially, a mistake in clambering to his feet gave Batbayar the opening he needed to sink in the choke and secure the finish.
After scoring a second-round knockout in the opening round, the now 9-1 “Steppe Warrior” showcased his skills on the canvas here, setting up what should be an electric clash with Aaron Tau later this year in the flyweight finals.
Sebastian Szalay quickly earned his place in the featherweight finals, dropping ChangMin Yoon right out of the chute and sealing up the win soon after.
The Australian connected with a right cross, left hook combination that landed flush and floored Yoon seconds into the contest. From there, the Luistro Combat Academy representative pounced, unloading a torrent of strikes to secure the finish.
After earning a decision win in the quarterfinals, Szalay moved one step closer to joining his teammates Quillan Salkilld and Cody Haddon on the UFC roster by showcasing his hands and collecting the stoppage win. Now riding a nine-fight winning streak, the featherweight now awaits the winner of the clash between Keiichiro Nakamura and Kaiwen.
Lawrence Lui punched his way to the bantamweight finals, finding an odd right hand along the fence that stopped Ngheim Van Y.
Ngheim was the quicker, sharper of the two for much of the first round, lighting up Lui’s lead leg and forcing the City Kickboxing representative to look to grapple. It was more of the same early in the second before Lui backed Ngheim towards the fence and landed a rising right hand that caught his Vietnamese counterpart square and sent him collapsing to the canvas.
This was a solid comeback win for the 29-year-old “Lok Yin,” who joins his teammate Aaron Tau in advancing to the finals of Road to UFC Season 4 later this year, where he’ll face the winner of the clash between Sulangrangbo and Sim Kai Xiong.
Aaron Tau and Yin Shuai went to war in the Road to UFC flyweight semifinals, battering each other for the full 15 minutes.
The first round was a classic case of volume versus power, as Yin popped steady counters, while Tau connected with the heavier blows, in addition to forcibly depositing his opponent to the canvas with a slam. Tau came out firing in the second, taking the fight to Yin and busting him up, only for the gas tank to wane a little and “Black Panther” to have more success in the final 90 seconds of the middle stanza.
As they came out to start the third, Yin pressed forward, stinging Tau and digging his toes to the body. The power of the Maori battler left Yin a mess, but the Chinese fighter was clearly the more active of the two, with Tau wearing it by the end as well.
Following a roaring ovation from the partisan crowd, the scores were read and it was Tau that emerged victorious, earning his place in the finals, where he’ll face the winner of the forthcoming bout between Agulali and Namsrai Batbayar.
Welterweights Kitt Campbell and YunSeong Jang kicked off Friday’s action with a competitive, hard-fought battle at Shanghai Indoor Stadium.
Campbell started aggressively, mixing his weapons and targets, with Jang responding in kind, much to the delight of the sizable crowd that were in their seats early. A series of illegal knees while Jang was down paused the action momentarily the first, but the South Korean was able to continue, bloodying Campbell’s nose and having a little more success in the second as the Australian looked to clinch more.
In the third, they slugged it out while they were in space, Campbell landing the heavier blows and longer combinations, though Jang certainly found a home for more than a few blows of his own before finishing the fight chasing the back mount and looking to hammer away on his foe.
When the scorecards were collected and totaled, it was Campbell that came away on the happy side of the split decision verdict.
