The prolonged finals of the second season of Road to UFC finally have an end in sight.
After the Road to UFC bantamweight final between Xiao Long and Lee Chang Ho dropped from the planned date last February, a resolution to the tournament became nebulous. Now, it’s being rescheduled for UFC Riyadh on June 22nd, per sources. The fight is verbally agreed but not signed by both sides.
Lee (9-1) is the lone Korean to make the finals of season two of Road to UFC, stopping Rana Rudra and Daermisi Zhawupasi in impressive fashion. The Extreme Combat representative has won five of his last six wins by ground and pound TKO.
Xiao (26-7), after a disappointing appearance in Dana White’s Contender Series, looked to finally put some pieces together in back-to-back RTU wins over Shohei Nose and Shuya Kamikubo. Training for years at the UFC PI in Shanghai, Xiao put together back-to-back wins in WLF after his appearance on DWCS.
The fight between Lee and Xiao was scratched from the original RTU finals event after visa issues and an injury knocked Xiao Long out of the fight. After that, Lee also suffered an injury, further delaying the booking. The fight will take place on the preliminary card of UFC Fight Night, similar to a finale fight for The Ultimate Fighter.
UFC Fight Night: Whittaker vs. Chimaev takes place on June 22nd, 2024, at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The event airs at 9am PST / 12pm EST on ABC and ESPN+ in the US.