UFC: China’s young gun Rong Zhu aiming for explosive finish against Brandon Jenkins
- Youngest fighter on UFC’s books faces late call-up against Jenkins in Las Vegas on Saturday
- ‘Now I know what I have to do. No matter who I face I think the best way to fight is to finish it in the first round,’ Rong says
The learning curve has been a steep one for Chinese prospect Rong Zhu since signing on to the UFC. But the youngest fighter on the organisation’s books returns to action at UFC Fight Night 192 on Saturday saying he’s never felt better – or been more focused.
“The world will see a different fighter this time,” said the 21-year-old Rong. “The world will see the real Rong Zhu.”
Travel restrictions saw the 21-year-old Rong forced to make alternate arrangements for his corner team on debut back at UFC 261 in April. Rong also admits the occasion got to him, down there on the undercard of an event that was co-headlined by the Rose Namajunas-Zhang Weili strawweight world title fight and played out in front of the UFC’s first full-capacity live audience in the United States in the year since the global pandemic hit.
The result went the way of Rodrigo Vargas (12-4) but Rong (17-4) had settled his nerves by the third round, and came home hard, showing enough, as he stood in the centre of the cage and traded with his Mexican opponent, to show the UFC just might be on to a good thing here.
“I lost that first fight because I didn’t have any experience in the UFC. Now that’s better,” Rong explained. “It’s just a case of getting more experience over three rounds of UFC fighting. You saw that last time, when I was better in the third round, but by then it was too late to win the fight.