20-year-old Road to UFC phenom brutalizes undefeated fighter with 37-second KO

This flyweight booked his spot in the Road to UFC semifinals with an incredible finish.

(Zuffa LLC)

One young flyweight wasted absolutely no time before announcing himself to fans in his opening fight of the Road to UFC tournament.

Now in its fourth year, Road to UFC has provided an alternate avenue outside of The Ultimate Fighter or Dana White’s Contender Series for prospects to break into the UFC.

Road to UFC returned to the UFC Performance Institute in Shanghai, China for the first four episodes of 2025, where a 20-year-old prospect arguably stole the show on day one with a highlight-reel knockout.

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This year's Road to UFC tournaments kicked off in Shanghai. / (Zuffa LLC)

20-Year-Old Agulali Scores Incredible 37-Second KO

Kicking off with a lightweight matchup that saw Mansher Khera extend his undefeated record against Aziz Khaydarov before quarterfinal matchups for the flyweight and featherweight tournaments, the penultimate fight of Road to UFC: Episode 2 featured China’s Agulali squaring off with undefeated Indian flyweight Mridul Saikia.

Saikia entered the night with a 100% finishing rate in his eight pro fights, while Agulali had only gone the distance twice in his career and came into the Road to UFC tournament riding the momentum of seven-straight wins.

All but one of the 20-year-old’s victories during that stretch came inside the first round, and Agulali made the most of his debut in the Octagon when he floored Saikia with a left hook in just 37 seconds to book his place in the flyweight tournament semifinals.

ENDS IT UNDER A MINUTE 👏

Agulali gets the KO in a frenzy to advance to the Road to UFC 4 semi-finals! 🤩

[ Watch NOW on @UFCFightPass : https://t.co/e7xhpmFV0h ] pic.twitter.com/UNH8A5rH8B

— UFC (@ufc) May 22, 2025

The knockout-win marked the second fastest victory of Agulali’s career after he previously won in just 17 seconds back in 2021, and later this year he’ll face Namsrai Batbayer in the flyweight semifinals following Batbayer’s second-round finish against Wataru Yamauchi.

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RIGHT HAND SITS HIM DOWN 👊

Namsrai Batbayar earns the TKO to advance to the #RTU4 semi-finals!

[ Watch NOW on @UFCFightPass : https://t.co/e7xhpmFV0h ] pic.twitter.com/ZRDtEnBzRG

— UFC (@ufc) May 22, 2025

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