The Road to UFC tournament is back for another year and aims to give top prospects a chance to impress the UFC brass in an attempt to earn a contract with the company. The show’s premiere takes place on May 28 and 29, and streams live from the Galaxy Arena in Macau.
- Farida Abdueva (7-1, Tiger Muay Thai, Kyrgyzstan)
- Huaxiang Dong (14-3, Haosheng Fight Team, China)
- Xiaocan Feng (11-4, Chunbo MMA, China)
- Machi Fukuda (10-2, Freelance, Japan)
- Arisa Matsuda (8-0, Shooto Gym, Japan)
- Bo Meng (22-8, Sunkin Fight, China)
- Bo Hyun Park (8-3, MOB Training Center, South Korea)
- Anyela Toktogonova (6-1, unknown gym, Kyrgyzstan)
Bo Meng is the heavy favorite here for a few reasons. The first is she has the highest level of experience and competition level due to her time with ONE Championship where she faced the likes of Jingnan Xiong, Ayaka Miura and Chihiro Sawada, among others. On top of that she possesses 30 pro fights, the most of anybody in this tournament. She’s a well-rounded fighter with good power in her hands and solid submissions. She faces Arista Matsude in the first round, which could have easily been the fight in the finals.
The fighter to keep an eye on in this tournament is Arisa Matsuda, an undefeated Japanese fighter who is the current CFFC Strawweight Champion. She’s a solid ground fighter like most of the other female Japanese MMA fighters. She also has a strong strength of schedule, besting the likes of Ayan Tursyn (for the CFFC title), as well as fellow Road to UFC bracket members Xiaocan Feng (on last year’s Road to UFC) and Machi Fukuda. She could be the surprise fighter of the tournament.
I think Bo Hyun Park is a solid fighter, but given the immense amount of talent in this tournament (it’s the most talent stacked of the bunch) and the fact that she’s normally an atomweight swimming in a pool of skilled strawweights really puts her at a disadvantage.
Huaxiang Dong is a Road to UFC vet from 2024, where she bested Priya Sharma in the first round before falling in the semifinals to Ming Shi. Dong has a wreslting background and does her best work on the mat, where she has two ground-and-pound finishes and seven submissions. That wrestling could be a major ace up her sleeve here.
Farida Abdueva is a 21-year-old fighter from the Central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan and has established herself as a strong prospect. Other than one blemish of under the Rizin promotion in 2023, she’s been quite dominant with her wrestling and grappling. She’s another under-the-radar fighter in this tournament to watch out for.
Anyela Toktogonova is just 20 years old and a late addition to the tournament. She’s known for her ground game and appears to have a high ceiling just based on her age (same with Abdueva). The big thing holding her back is the fact that she hasn’t fought since May 2024, which is a sizeable layoff.
Xiaocan Feng is a former Road to UFC finalist and still just 24 years old. In the 2024 tournament, Feng bested Kiran Singh and Miki Motono before getting posterized by Ming Shi in the finals. Then in the 2025 edition of Road to UFC, she fought Arisa Matsuda, but was bested by split decision. Feng is a solid all-around fighter that could a longshot in this year’s tournament, but will be no easy out.
Finally, Machi Fukuda is a high-level grappler at just the age of 22 years old. She’s had a wealth of quality experience since she debuted as a pro, not taking many easy fights along the way. Her only two losses came by split decision, showing she was not outclassed. The Deep Jewels and Rizin vet has half her wins by tapout and figures to use her submission grappling to move her way up the ladder.