Liu Ce KOs Levi Rodrigues Jr. in UFC Debut at Shanghai
Liu Ce needed one round to show why the UFC signed a kickboxer. The Chinese light heavyweight knocked out Levi Rodrigues Jr. at 4:26 of the first round on the UFC Fight Night: Nurmagomedov vs. Song main card, winning his promotional debut in Shanghai.
Liu improved to 4-1, with every victory coming by knockout or TKO. Rodrigues fell to 5-2 with one no contest and 0-2 in the UFC.
The bout was a replacement fight. Junior Tafa pulled out for undisclosed reasons, and Rodrigues stepped in about six weeks after a second-round TKO loss to Felipe Franco in his own UFC debut.
Both men weighed 206 pounds. Herb Dean was the referee at the Oriental Sports Center.
Liu, 29, is nicknamed “The Oriental Dragon” and fights out of Liaoning. He came in with an 18-3 kickboxing record, 14 knockouts, and two K-1 World MAX titles in 2024, when he was also named K-1 Fighter of the Year.
His MMA career had never left the first two rounds. Three finishes in Wu Lin Feng and one TKO loss were the entire file before Saturday.
Rodrigues, 29, is a Brazilian nicknamed “Baby Monster,” from Jarinu, São Paulo. All five of his wins had ended by knockout, and every fight on his record had ended inside the distance.
The kickboxing showed up immediately. Liu chopped the lead leg, jabbed the body, and landed a hard kick downstairs while Rodrigues swung for the knockout and ate more damage to the legs.
Rodrigues did get a takedown try and pinned Liu to the fence. Liu answered with elbows, broke, and went back to the right hand.
The first knockdown came from an overhand right. Rodrigues beat the count and was still hurt when Liu doubled the jab, followed with a right, and opened up along the cage.
Rodrigues fired back anyway. Liu closed it with a right hook that put him face-down, the second knockdown of the round, and Dean waved it off at 4:26.
Official stats were lopsided. Liu landed 59 of 82 significant strikes at 72 percent and scored both knockdowns.
Rodrigues went 28 of 57 on significant strikes and 0-for-2 on takedowns. Neither man attempted a submission.
A first-round knockout in China does not make Liu a ranked 205-pounder. It does confirm the obvious scouting report: at range, with a 77-inch reach and K-1 timing, he can put people away before grappling becomes the story.
The grappling question is still unanswered. Rodrigues is not a wrestler who can hold a kickboxer down for 15 minutes, and he could not turn two takedown tries into control.
For Rodrigues, two UFC losses by TKO in two months is a hard start. He can punch with anybody at the bottom of the division. He has not yet shown he can take a clean right hand from a taller striker and stay in the fight.
Liu is now 4-0 in fights that ended by strikes, with two first-round finishes. His only MMA loss remains a TKO to Ivan Gnizditskiy in 2024.
The home crowd got what it came for in this slot. A Chinese debutant, a late replacement, and a knockout before the round expired.
UFC Fight Night: Nurmagomedov vs. Song continues in Shanghai, with Umar Nurmagomedov vs. Song Yadong still ahead in the main event. Liu Ce is 1-0 in the UFC, and the next booking will show whether the promotion wants to test that kickboxing against a wrestler or keep him in striking matches.