Zhu Rong faced a pivotal moment in his UFC career at UFC 312, following a loss in his previous bout. He triumphed over debutant Kody Steele in a thrilling unanimous decision victory, showcasing his fighting style that contrasts previous opponents who often grappled to win by points. Zhu's solid training at City Kickboxing prepared him well, allowing him to push through the challenges of the fight while maintaining a positive outlook on its potential impact for his future bouts. His performance not only improved his record to 26-6 but also marked the first loss for Steele.
I know Kody pretty well. Although he's a grappler, I know he's a brawler. So this type of match-up is what I expected. In my previous UFC fights, all my opponents, they are kind of running away from me, trying to win by points, trying to grapple with me. This fight, Kody, he's the ideal opponent for me.
To be honest, before this fight, I hoped this fight I could fight the whole three rounds. Because I do believe I can learn a lot through the fights.
Of course this is not an easy fight, it's a really hard fight, but I can tell you that my training camp at CKB [City Kickboxing], every day training is ten times harder than this.
As for the match-up on Saturday, well, Zhu could not have asked for anything more. The pair had trained together previously, and their styles turned out to bring out the best in each other.
Collection
[
|
...
]