UFC: China’s Rong Zhu makes history with dramatic late TKO of Brandon Jenkins after weight cut miss
- The youngest fighter in the UFC, 21-year-old Chinese lightweight Rong becomes first fighter born in the 2000s to win in the Octagon
- ‘The opponent change affected me a bit and then I missed with the weight, I’m very sorry about this … this is our job to do it,’ Rong says
Rong Zhu celebrated for the right reasons this time, after securing a dramatic TKO victory against Brandon Jenkins with 25 seconds to go in their UFC Vegas 37 preliminary bout on Saturday.
The 21-year-old Chinese lightweight (18-4) – who is the youngest fighter in the UFC – bounced back from a unanimous decision defeat by Kazula Vargas on his promotional debut in April to underline his serious potential, reeling off an 11th win in 12 fights.
It had been a far cry from Thursday’s dramatic scenes at the official weigh-ins inside the UFC Apex facility in Las Vegas, when Rong stepped on the scales and celebrated wildly, having mistakenly thought he made weight – not realising he had instead missed by two pounds.
He was unable to cut the rest of the weight in the allotted time, so missed out on a potential US$50,000 bonus here after finishing 29-year-old American Jenkins (15-8) – himself a late replacement for Dakota Bush (8-3), who tested positive for Covid-19 during fight week.
The finish came by ground and pound, Rong delivering shots to an exhausted Jenkins with the referee stepping in at 4:35 of the third round.
The celebrations were a bit more muted this time, a tired Rong kneeling down in his corner and thanking his team, before climbing the cage after becoming the first fighter born in the 2000s to get a victory in the Octagon.