• Jeka Saragih after his win over Ki Won-Bin in a lightweight bout of Road to UFC in Abu Dhabi. Chris Whiteoak / The National
    Jeka Saragih after his win over Ki Won-Bin in a lightweight bout of Road to UFC in Abu Dhabi. Chris Whiteoak / The National
  • Jeka Saragih, grey, beat Ki Won-Bin in Abu Dhabi. Chris Whiteoak / The National
    Jeka Saragih, grey, beat Ki Won-Bin in Abu Dhabi. Chris Whiteoak / The National
  • Lee Jeong-Yeong knocked out Lu Kai in a featherweight bout at Road to UFC in Abu Dhabi. Chris Whiteoak / The National
    Lee Jeong-Yeong knocked out Lu Kai in a featherweight bout at Road to UFC in Abu Dhabi. Chris Whiteoak / The National
  • Lee Jeong-Yeong, red, takes on Lu Kai in a featherweight bout of Road to UFC in Abu Dhabi. Chris Whiteoak / The National
    Lee Jeong-Yeong, red, takes on Lu Kai in a featherweight bout of Road to UFC in Abu Dhabi. Chris Whiteoak / The National
  • Rina Nakamura, red, punches Shohei Nose in their bantamweight bout of Road to UFC in Abu Dhabi. Chris Whiteoak / The National
    Rina Nakamura, red, punches Shohei Nose in their bantamweight bout of Road to UFC in Abu Dhabi. Chris Whiteoak / The National
  • Anshul Jubli (red) takes on KyeongPyo Kim in a lightweight bout at Road to UFC the semi finals in Abu Dhabi. Chris Whiteoak / The National
    Anshul Jubli (red) takes on KyeongPyo Kim in a lightweight bout at Road to UFC the semi finals in Abu Dhabi. Chris Whiteoak / The National
  • Anshul Jubli, red, takes on Kim Kyeong-Pyo in Abu Dhabi. Chris Whiteoak / The National
    Anshul Jubli, red, takes on Kim Kyeong-Pyo in Abu Dhabi. Chris Whiteoak / The National
  • Samandar Murodov during the Road to UFC in Abu Dhabi. Chris Whiteoak / The National
    Samandar Murodov during the Road to UFC in Abu Dhabi. Chris Whiteoak / The National
  • Yi Zha, red, takes on Koyomi Matsushima in Abu Dhabi. Chris Whiteoak / The National
    Yi Zha, red, takes on Koyomi Matsushima in Abu Dhabi. Chris Whiteoak / The National

'Road to UFC' in Abu Dhabi provides golden chance to emerging MMA talent


John McAuley
  • English
  • Arabic

Abu Dhabi hosted for the first time on Sunday ‘Road To UFC’, with the series’ semi-finals taking place at Etihad Arena.

The tournament, launched in Singapore in June, is designed to showcase the best young MMA talent in Asia, who vie for a contract with the promotion.

Featuring athletes at flyweight, bantamweight, featherweight and lightweight, “Road to UFC” began with 32 competitors – eight in each division – before being halved for the semi-finals in Abu Dhabi. On Sunday, there were two episodes, with eight fighters advancing to the final, where one from each division will eventually be offered a UFC contract.

Details regarding the win-and-advance competition’s finals, to take place on the preliminary card of a UFC Fight Night, have yet to be confirmed, although they are expected for South Korea in early February.

On Sunday, the highlight of the earlier Episode 5 was undoubtedly Indonesian lightweight Jeka Saragih’s first-round knockout of Ki Won-bin. Other winners from the day’s opening instalment were Yi Zha and Choi Seung-guk, and Keisuke Sasu in a non-tournament bout. Those fights all went to decisions.

“I’m very happy because I executed all the game plan that my coach gave me,” Saragih said. “We trained it, it’s not a lucky punch – we drilled it, we got it. I’m very happy because I just proved that Indonesian fighters have very good quality. After this I’m going to rest for a little bit and then start training so I can finish my opponent in the final.”

Saragih will meet India’s Anshul Jubli in the showpiece, after the lightweight came through a thrilling encounter with Kim Kyeong-pyo.

Elsewhere in Episode 6, flyweight Park Hyung-sung defeated Topnoi Kiwram by rear-naked choke in Round 1 to move to the final against Choi Seung-guk. Meanwhile, Yi Zha will take on Lee Jeong-yeong in the featherweight decider, while Japanese bantamweight Rinya Nakamura faces compatriot Toshiomi Kazama after the latter’s bout against Kim Min-woo was cancelled.

PROFILE

Name: Enhance Fitness 

Year started: 2018 

Based: UAE 

Employees: 200 

Amount raised: $3m 

Investors: Global Ventures and angel investors 

The specs: 2018 Mercedes-AMG C63 S Cabriolet

Price, base: Dh429,090

Engine 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8

Transmission Seven-speed automatic

Power 510hp @ 5,500rpm

Torque 700Nm @ 1,750rpm

Fuel economy, combined 9.2L / 100km

Ferrari 12Cilindri specs

Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12

Power: 819hp

Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm

Price: From Dh1,700,000

Available: Now

The specs: 2019 Mini Cooper

Price, base: Dh141,740 (three-door) / Dh165,900 (five-door)
Engine: 1.5-litre four-cylinder (Cooper) / 2.0-litre four-cylinder (Cooper S)
Power: 136hp @ 4,500rpm (Cooper) / 192hp @ 5,000rpm (Cooper S)
Torque: 220Nm @ 1,480rpm (Cooper) / 280Nm @ 1,350rpm (Cooper S)
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 4.8L to 5.4L / 100km

FIXTURES

All games 6pm UAE on Sunday: 
Arsenal v Watford
Burnley v Brighton
Chelsea v Wolves
Crystal Palace v Tottenham
Everton v Bournemouth
Leicester v Man United
Man City v Norwich
Newcastle v Liverpool
Southampton v Sheffield United
West Ham v Aston Villa

FROM%20THE%20ASHES
%3Cp%3EDirector%3A%20Khalid%20Fahad%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EStarring%3A%20Shaima%20Al%20Tayeb%2C%20Wafa%20Muhamad%2C%20Hamss%20Bandar%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ERating%3A%203%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
UAE Falcons

Carly Lewis (captain), Emily Fensome, Kelly Loy, Isabel Affley, Jessica Cronin, Jemma Eley, Jenna Guy, Kate Lewis, Megan Polley, Charlie Preston, Becki Quigley and Sophie Siffre. Deb Jones and Lucia Sdao – coach and assistant coach.

 
ENGLAND SQUAD

Goalkeepers: Jack Butland, Jordan Pickford, Nick Pope 
Defenders: John Stones, Harry Maguire, Phil Jones, Kyle Walker, Kieran Trippier, Gary Cahill, Ashley Young, Danny Rose, Trent Alexander-Arnold 
Midfielders: Eric Dier, Jordan Henderson, Dele Alli, Jesse Lingard, Raheem Sterling, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Fabian Delph 
Forwards: Harry Kane, Jamie Vardy, Marcus Rashford, Danny Welbeck

About Proto21

Date started: May 2018
Founder: Pir Arkam
Based: Dubai
Sector: Additive manufacturing (aka, 3D printing)
Staff: 18
Funding: Invested, supported and partnered by Joseph Group

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Company%20profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Belong%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Michael%20Askew%20and%20Matthew%20Gaziano%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Technology%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETotal%20funding%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%243.5%20million%20from%20crowd%20funding%20and%20angel%20investors%3Cstrong%3E%3Cbr%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2012%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Updated: October 23, 2022, 6:12 PM