Lee earned dominant stoppage wins over Rana Singh and Daermisi Zhawupasi to advance to the bantamweight tournament finals on the second season of Road to UFC, then had to wait 10 months before finally facing off with Xiao Long. The South Korean won the bout by unanimous decision, extended his winning streak to four, and looks to continue rolling here.
These are the type of early-career fights that are critical to determining whether an athlete is capable of maintaining a place on the UFC roster long term. While not a massive fight in terms of divisional significance, how it plays out will tell us a great deal about both Romious and Lee once the smoke clears.
Kennedy Nzechukwu vs Martin Buday
It’s a clash of Contender Series graduates in the heavyweight division here, as Season 2 alum Kennedy Nzechukwu makes his third start in the big boy ranks opposite Season 5 grad Martin Buday.
READ: March’s Monthly Report
Nzechukwu has been a fascinating addition to the heavyweight division through his first two appearances, having registered first-round stoppage wins over Chris Barnett and Lukasz Brzeski. The towering Nigerian always flashed upside during his light heavyweight days, and seems to have finally found how to make his considerable weapons work best for him consistently inside the Octagon.
Buday also started his UFC heavyweight tenure with wins over Barnett and Brzeski, adding victories over Jake Collier and Josh Parisian before being handed his first loss by Shamil Gaziev at the end of 2023. He rebounded last year with a split decision win over Andrei Arlovski and will now look to stem the advances of his fellow DWCS alum this weekend.
