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UFC Featherweight

Zhu Kangjie VS Rodrigo Vera

Galaxy Arena, MacauSAR, China

Tale of the Tape

Zhu Kangjie VS Rodrigo Vera
21-5-0, 1 NC Record 22-1-1
30 Age 30
173 cm Height 170 cm
178 cm Reach —
orthodox Stance unknown
57% Finish rate 55%
57% KO rate 41%
0% Sub rate 14%

Result Summary

Rodrigo Vera def. Zhu Kangjie TKO (punches) · R1 1:50

Rodrigo Vera stopped Zhu Kangjie by TKO (punches) at 1:50 of Round 1 in their featherweight bout at UFC Fight Night: Song vs. Figueiredo in Macau on May 30, 2026. Vera, a short-notice replacement making his UFC debut, landed a clean left hook that dropped Kangjie flush to the canvas less than two minutes in, then finished with unanswered ground strikes until the referee intervened. The one-sided ending gave Kangjie, the Road to UFC Season 3 featherweight champion, no opportunity to find his rhythm. The win extended Vera's professional winning streak to 14 consecutive fights.

Fight Overview

Road to UFC Season 3 featherweight tournament winner Zhu Kangjie makes his long-awaited Octagon debut on home soil against Rodrigo Vera, a durable Peruvian journeyman who accepted the fight on roughly three weeks notice. Zhu carries sanda-and-kickboxing power with a majority of his wins by stoppage, while Vera brings battle-hardened regional experience — domestic hype against short-notice veteran.

Keys to Victory

Zhu Kangjie

  1. Leverage his powerful knockout threat early to force Vera into a defensive, reactive game from the outset.
  2. Use sanda-based footwork and range management to control distance and prevent Vera from establishing a rhythm.
  3. Take advantage of crowd energy and home-fight momentum to press forward aggressively and seek an early finish.

Rodrigo Vera

  1. Fight conservatively early and let Zhu expend energy chasing a finish before taking over in later rounds.
  2. Draw on his ten career decision victories to stay competitive and grind through the championship rounds.
  3. Clinch early and often to neutralize Zhu's heavy power shots and make the fight ugly and attrition-based.

Last 5 fights

Zhu Kangjie

  1. W Bin Xie Decision · R3 5:00 · 23 MAY 2025
  2. W Shin Haraguchi Decision · R3 5:00 · 23 AUG 2024
  3. W Tatsuya Ando Decision · R3 5:00 · 18 MAY 2024
  4. W Wusikenbieke Huwannixi TKO · R1 3:51 · 1 OCT 2023
  5. W Min Hyeok Lee KO · R1 0:20 · 22 JUL 2023

Rodrigo Vera

  1. W Joao Oliveira Decision · R3 5:00 · 1 AUG 2025
  2. W Jonathan Caetano Decision · R3 5:00 · 24 MAY 2025
  3. W Arivaldo Lima da Silva Decision · R3 5:00 · 25 SEPT 2024
  4. W Cleverson Luiz Candido TKO · R1 1:19 · 18 JUL 2024
  5. W Carlos Eduardo Decision · R3 5:00 · 23 MAY 2024

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AI-generated This analysis was generated with AI and may contain errors.

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