The UFC, the world’s best mixed martial arts (MMA) organization, will once once more hold ‘Road to UFC’, an event that gives promising fighters a chance to enter.
The UFC announced that it will open ‘Road to UFC Season 2’ at the UFC Performance Institute in Shanghai, China over two days on the 27th and 28th of next month.
In this tournament, eight fighters from four weight classes, including flyweight (-56.7kg), bantamweight (-61.2kg), featherweight (-65.8kg), and light weight (-70.3kg), compete in a tournament format to determine the winner. The winner is given the opportunity to sign with the UFC and fight on the world stage. Four extra matches will also be played at the tournament to give Asian prospects an extra chance.
Seven Korean players will participate this season. The contestants will be flyweight △Lee Jeong-hyeon (20, 8 wins) △Choi Seung-guk (26, 6 wins, 2 losses). Bantamweight △Lee Chang-ho (28, 7 wins, 1 loss) Featherweight △Kim Sang-won (30, 9 wins, 1 draw, 5 losses) △Ki Won-bin (32, 17 wins, 8 losses) △Kim Sang-wook (29, 7 wins, 1 loss) △Hong Seong-chan (32 years old) 9 wins and 1 loss)
In the opening round, Junghyun Lee will face Mark Climaco (Philippines). Choi Seung-guk has a flyweight match with Sumit Kumar (India). Lee Chang-ho will meet Rana Rudra Pratap Singh (India) in a bantamweight match, and Kim Sang-won will meet Sas Keisuke (Japan) in a featherweight match.
Kim Sang-wook, who made his face known through the variety shows ‘Steel Troop’ and ‘Physical 100’, will have his first match in the lightweight division once morest Kazuma Maruyama (Japan). Ki Ki-bin will face Baha Turbo Ray Batter Borati (China), and Hong Seong-chan will face Long Ju (China) in the lightweight division.
In the non-tournament match, welterweight Kim Han-seul (32, 13-4) and Yoo Sang-hoon (33, 7-2) face tiebreaker Noor Aji (China) and Chris Hoffman (Philippines), respectively.
Flyweight Park Hyeon-seong and featherweight Lee Jung-young, winners of Road to UFC Season 1, held from June last year to February this year, have successfully signed contracts with the UFC.
Reporter Jeong Pil-jae [email protected]
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