Road to UFC: Rongzhu dominates in Macao

China's revitalized mixed martial artist Rongzhu has proved he belongs to the world's top promotion by getting the Ultimate Fighting Championship's Macao fight week off to a ferocious start with TKO win.

The hard-punching striker, hailing from the Aba Tibetan and Qiang autonomous prefecture in Sichuan province, capped off the first-day actions of the Road To UFC Season 5 with a bang by stopping Victor Martinez via TKO in just 70 seconds in the first round of their lightweight bout at the Galaxy Arena in Macao on Thursday.

Rongzhu, who was waived by UFC in 2022 after an unsuccessful first spell with the Las Vegas-based organization, sent the Macao crowd cheering on their feet right after his bout against Martinez went off as he cracked his American opponent with a clean 1-2 combination that dropped Martinez to the canvas in just over a minute.

The Chinese crowd favorite pounced with follow-up punches until the referee stepped in and then called it a stoppage win for Rongzhu, who's now racked up three wins in a row since re-signing with the UFC as winner of the lightweight division of the RTU Season 2 in early 2024.