The fourth season of Road To UFC (RTU) went down early this morning (Thurs., May 22, 2025) inside the UFC Performance Institute Shanghai in Shanghai, China and the first two episodes were very violent.
A quick reminder that RTU is a single-elimination tournament organized by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) to discover new talent, primarily from Asia, and the winners of the tournament get UFC contracts. UFC fighters such as Rinya Nakamura, HyunSung Park, and Rei Tsuruya have some from the show.
Episode 1 Highlights
Shuai Yin knocked out a blue-haired Kai Yoshida in the Flyweight co-main event, four minutes into the first round, with a left overhand and ground-and-pound.
Yin (18-5) competed on season three of RTU but was eliminated in the first round via split decision.
WAKE UP WITH ANOTHER KNOCKOUT
Yin Shuai ends it early with a huge overhand left to go to the #RTU4 semi-finals!
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— UFC (@ufc) May 22, 2025
In the featured bout, Keiichiro Nakamura slept Eoh Jin Park with an absolutely brutal knee in the second round.
Nakamura (6-1) is riding a six-fight win streak with six knockout wins.
A NASTY KNOCKOUT VIA KNEE
Keiichiro Nakamura delivers a stunner to advance to the #RTU4 semi-finals!
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— UFC (@ufc) May 22, 2025
Mongolian flyweight Namsrai Batbayar knocked out Japan’s Wataru Yamauchi in the second round with a nasty right hook.
Batbayar (8-1) is riding a four-fight win streak and holds a 100 percent finish rate with four knockouts and four submissions.
RIGHT HAND SITS HIM DOWN
Namsrai Batbayar earns the TKO to advance to the #RTU4 semi-finals!
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— UFC (@ufc) May 22, 2025
Episode 2 Highlights
In the main event of episode two, season three finalist Kaiwen Li (who got submitted in the first round in Feb 2024) knocked out Dong Hyun Seo with a killer uppercut, right hook combo, followed by ground-and-pound.
Li (15-6) is now on a three-fight winning streak.
UPPERCUT GETS THROUGH FOR THE TKO
Kaiwen gets the Round 2 TKO to advance to the #RTU4 semi-finals
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— UFC (@ufc) May 22, 2025
In the co-main event, Chinese Flyweight Agulali knocked out India’s Mridul Saikia in 37 seconds with a deadly left hook.
Agulali (13-1) is riding an eight-fight winning streak.
ENDS IT UNDER A MINUTE
Agulali gets the KO in a frenzy to advance to the Road to UFC 4 semi-finals!
[ Watch NOW on @UFCFightPass : https://t.co/e7xhpmFV0h ] pic.twitter.com/UNH8A5rH8B
— UFC (@ufc) May 22, 2025
Australia’s Aaron Tau stopped Indonesia’s Rio Tirto in under two minutes with savage ground-and-pound.
Episodes three and four air tomorrow morning (Fri., May 23, 2025) at 7 a.m. EST on UFC Fight Pass.
To checkout UFC’s upcoming schedule of events click here.