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Mathew Scott

Yi Zha was the last Chinese fighter standing when the dust settled on the semi-finals of the Asian Road to UFC tournament and that was of no great surprise to the featherweight from Sichuan.
At 26 years of age and with a record of 21-3 that dates back to 2016 behind him, Yi has been around, and he’s felt ever since the region-wide talent sweep was announced that this, right here, was his pathway to the big show.
“When I heard about this tournament I knew this was my chance,” Yi says. “I feel like my whole life has led me here, to this moment. People only really see what we do when we fight but our whole lives are dedicated to this sport. All the hours and the hard work we put in are in the hope that these opportunities come.”
That fact was going through Yi’s mind when found himself obviously down on the judges’ cards a round into his semi-final against Japan’s Koyomi Matsushima (13-6) in Abu Dhabi this past October. It sparked the Chinese fighter into action, and he dug deep to take a split decision.
“I think from the last fight, I learned a lot,” Yi says. “It was an experience of just how to get through a fight when you are behind. You get better as a fighter in those situations and I felt I had to do more.”

The Road to UFC comes to a conclusion this weekend in Las Vegas as part of the Fight Night 218 card. It all started out in Singapore last June with 32 fighters from seven nations fighting across four weight divisions. Now there are eight fighters from five nations left and the tournament has delivered on its promise to unearth talent from untapped talent pools as well as fighters who have slipped through the net – so far, at least.
Hence we have Indonesia and India represented in the final of the lightweights by Jeka Saragih (13-2) and Anshul Jubli (6-0), respectively, as they fight to become the only fighters from their countries on the UFC’s books. Plus there’s talent from the more traditional MMA breeding grounds of South Korea and Japan across the other three weight divisions.
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And then there’s Yi, from a country still emerging as a force in the sport, with one UFC world champion so far in strawweight star Zhang Weili (23-2) and a few others – bantamweight Song Yadong (19-7-1, one no contest) among them – who are world ranked and fighting to put themselves in the title picture.
Yi emerged from the Enbo Fight Club talent factory in Chengdu – like the 25-year-old Song, and another rising star in the 27-year-old flyweight Su Mudaerji (16-5).
“When I first came to the PI, I merely considered myself as a grappler, but I have improved my striking over the past two years,” says Yi, who is speaking from Shanghai as he puts in a few final workouts in his pre-fight camp. “So now I have both skills and I just feel I am so much more well-rounded as a fighter.”
Yi has been fine-tuned at the UFC’s Performance Institute in Shanghai but the discipline and the passion needed to succeed in the sport was instilled up there in the mountains of Sichuan.

“When I was a kid I used to like fighting with my classmates,” recalls Yi. “Fighting was just the normal thing to do and my father sent me off to learn sanda [Chinese kickboxing]. Once I saw MMA on some old DVDs I knew that’s what I wanted to do. For my first fight the officials said I was too small for my weight division so I had to spend a whole day eating and drinking.
“I had joined Enbo when I was about 12 and all of us have grown up together, training and living and dreaming of the UFC. I have followed their progress and their wisdom and this is my turn to join my brothers.”
Now comes Vegas and the shape of the 27-year-old Lee Jeong-yeong (9-1) looming ahead of Yi this weekend. The Korean has been among the finds of the tournament so far, what with two first-round finishes in his first two fights, and a background that includes a Road FC featherweight title back home.
No matter, says Yi.
“He comes out quick – everyone has seen that,” says Yi. “He’s explosive in that first round but he’s not very good at wrestling, and I don’t think he can keep that explosiveness for a full 15 minutes. That’s the test ahead of him, and that’s the weakness in his game that I will go for.”


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Chinese featherweight faces South Korean Lee Jeong-yeong at Fight Night 218 in Las Vegas with a UFC contract at stake
‘Our whole lives are dedicated to this sport. All the hours and hard work we put in are in the hope these opportunities come,’ Yi says


Chinese featherweight faces South Korean Lee Jeong-yeong at Fight Night 218 in Las Vegas with a UFC contract at stake.
