Picking up right from where it left off in May, the Road to UFC Season 3 concluded its semi-finals in Las Vegas on Friday. With the finals of the tournament scheduled in Macau for November, 16 contestants gave it their all at the UFC Apex. Here are the winners after the semifinal wars in the featherweight, bantamweight, flyweight, and women’s strawweight categories.
Kicking off the Road to the UFC semifinals were McCormack and Yan Qihui, featuring a women’s flyweight scrap. Though Dana White’s former Contender Series contestant, Yan, was landing at her own will in the opening round, Danni quickly found her rhythm and started rallying in the third, inflicting a gnarly cut on ‘Queen Kong’ to win the bout by decision – 30-27, 30-27, 29-27.
UK’s Kiru Singh Sahota punched his ticket to the flyweight finals defeating Raul Penales in the semi. Sahota won the bout by majority decision after the Indian born used his reach advantage effectively to distance himself from his Filipino competitor on the judges’ scorecards.
Next up was the bantamweight banger between SuYoung You & Daermisi Zhawupasi. While the two put up an exciting fight, the judges eventually sent SuYoung You to the finals after the South Korean used his grappling skills to take his Chinese counterpart to the ground and pull out the decisive win.
While Friday’s outcomes relied heavily on the judges’ consensus, the tournament also had bouts which were absolute thrillers including the back-and-forth flyweight scrap between Angad Bisht and Korea’s DongHu Choi.
DongHun Choi’s comeback, Jielevisi’s stellar performance at Road to UFC
Following the footsteps of Anshul Jubli, Angad Bisht was touted as the next big Indian presence in the UFC. However, it was a bitter evening for Bisht, who despite starting exceptionally well suffered a loss to South Korea’s DongHun Choi after the 15-minute back-and-forth flyweight affair – 29-28, 28-29, 29-28.
Choi Dong Hoon defeats Angad Bisht via split decision.
This was a close fight and Angad will be back 👏#RTU #RoadToUFC pic.twitter.com/w97LVcxi3X
— MMA India (@MMAIndiaShow) August 24, 2024
Despite Bisht catching Choi in the opening round with a crisp shot that caused the Korean’s nose to bleed instantly, Choi weathered the storm and soldiered on. In fact, he returned the favor soon after, securing a crucial knockdown in the final round to leave a lasting impression on the judges.
The last of Episode 5 was the bantamweight scrap between Baergeng Jieleyisi & Japan’s Tokitaki Nakanishi. After three rounds, the judges saw the Chinese as the winner and awarded him a majority decision win over the Jap, sending him to the finals in Macau where he will duke it out with SuYoung You. Judges scored the contest – 29-28, 29-28, 29-28 in favor of Jielvisi.
Meanwhile, Episode 6 of the tournament featured a welterweight scrap between Tajikistan’s Samandar Murodov and Jonathan Piersma. Out-grappling his opponent, Murodov extended his unbeaten streak to 11-0, defeating Piersma via decision.
Shutting down any attacks from Piersma, the Tajik fighter looked aggressive, firing shots in close quarters and actively hunting for submissions. At the end of the grappling-heavy affair, the judges awarded the unanimous decision win to Murodov.
