Wallen del Rosario to face Chinese fighter in 'Road to UFC'

MANILA, Philippines – Filipino mixed martial arts fighter Wallen Del Rosario will get his first chance to land a contract to the Ultimate Fighting Championship when he takes on Chinese flyweight counterpart Qiu Lun in “Road to UFC”.

Road to UFC is a “win and advance” tournament featuring prospects from Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, India, and from the UFC Academy in China, who will compete in each of four men’s weight classes: flyweight, bantamweight, featherweight and lightweight.

The tournament is a part of UFC 275: Glover Teixeira vs. Jiri Prochazka; the fight organization’s first pay-per-view in Asia that will be held at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on June 12. 

Del Rosario will battle Qui Lun on June 9. 

Should the Filipino win the match, he will advance to the next round, which will be announced at a later date.

Also joining him as the Philippines’ bet is John Adajar, who will face off with Korean Han Seul-kim in a non-tournament welterweight match on June 10.

Sporting a 10-3 record, del Rosario has fought in the alphabet soup minor MMA leagues in Southeast Asia. This UFC match will be his first shot at the big time. 

“Malaking bagay ‘to. Kailangan maghanda ng mabuti,” said the 29-year old Caviteño, who sports a 10-3 MMA slate.

Road to UFC: Singapore will only be del Rosario’s third fight overseas. He twice fought in the Chinese promotion WLF Wars in Zhengzhou, China, where he knocked out Ye Bian in 2017. In his second match, he lost via unanimous decision to Jinbo Zou.

Road to UFC: Singapore — where Wallen will be once more up against a Chinese fighter — will be his third and biggest match in his career. He hopes that ring rust will not be a factor as he hasn’t seen action since the pandemic began in March of 2020. 

“Gagawin ko ang best ko hindi lang para sa sarili ko pero para sa bayan,” promised del Rosario. “Magandang pagkakataon ito.”

The card will be shown live in the Philippines on Premier Sports on Skycable and Cignal, and on the TapGo streaming application.