Rongzhu

Overview

Rongzhu, "The Yama King," has gone the distance in four of his seven UFC fights, and he's finished only one of them. He's a lightweight from Sichuan, China, and his UFC record is 4-3. His overall professional record across all promotions is 29-6-0.

He comes into his next fight on a three-fight UFC win streak, his longest. Every win in it went the distance.

UFC Career

Rongzhu made his UFC debut at UFC 261 in April 2021 and lost a unanimous decision to Kazula Vargas. He answered five months later with a third-round TKO of Brandon Jenkins, 4:35 into the round. That is still his only UFC finish.

The next stretch went the other way. Ignacio Bahamondes submitted him in the third round in February 2022, and in September 2024 Chris Padilla beat him by doctor's stoppage in the second. Three UFC losses, and all three came by different routes: decision, submission, stoppage.

In between, Rongzhu fought on the Road to UFC series, which is not part of the UFC record. He knocked out SeongChan Hong in the first round, beat Sangwook Kim by decision and submitted Shin Haraguchi in the third. He added another first-round knockout there, over Victor Martinez in 1:10.

The current UFC streak started at UFC 312 in February 2025 with a unanimous decision over Kody Steele. He followed it with another over Austin Hubbard that August, then Rafa Garcia at Noche UFC. All three went the full 15 minutes.

Three straight wins, no finishes, no scares on the scorecards.

Fighting Style

Rongzhu is a busy striker who lands at a high clip and does it accurately. The trade-off is that he gets hit more than most, and his striking defense sits right around the UFC average.

He rarely shoots for takedowns and almost never hunts submissions, but he is very hard to take down. Opponents have had little luck forcing him to the mat.

That fits how his wins have come. Three of his four UFC victories went to the scorecards, built on output rather than finishes. The one stoppage was a third-round TKO, not an early knockout.

His three losses came by decision, submission and stoppage, so he has been finished before as well.

Notable Wins

• Brandon Jenkins — TKO, round 3, UFC Fight Night: Smith vs. Spann (2021)
• Austin Hubbard — unanimous decision, UFC Fight Night: Walker vs Zhang (2025)
• Kody Steele — unanimous decision, UFC 312 (2025)

Quick Facts

• Division: Lightweight
• UFC record: 4-3
• Professional record (all promotions): 29-6-0
• UFC debut: April 2021
• Height: 5'9"
• Reach: 71"
• Born: Sichuan, China