Why India’s Chungreng Koren’s UFC dream resonates beyond his own path

Chengrung Koren will now enter the quarter-finals of the Road to UFC Season 5 at the Galaxy Arena in Macau against unbeaten Japanese bantamweight Ryuho Miyaguchi (Photo: UFC/Instagram) In 2025, Chungreng Koren was close to realizing his dream of making it to the UFC. Not directly, not yet, but through the Road to UFC tournament, the UFC’s official Asia-Pacific talent channel, where two wins guarantee a UFC contract.For Koren, it represented the culmination of years spent trying to carve out a future in combat sports: leaving Manipur to train in Bengaluru and Delhi, balancing survival with ambition and fighting his way through a life shaped by hardship.But the opportunity never materialized. Contractual obligations closed that door before he could even walk through it.An even tougher flop came shortly after. In August 2025, Koren lost his Matrix Fight Night bantamweight title to Rabindra Dhant of Nepal, the most devastating defeat of his professional career.For a fighter who had built momentum with a series of aggressive finishes, the loss felt like everything he had spent years building suddenly came crashing down.Koren now admits that the aftermath drove him into depression. But stopping was never a real option.A year after that heartbreak, the 28-year-old found himself back on the doorstep of the same dream. Koren was initially named as the bantamweight backup fighter for the Road to UFC Season 5 in Macau, but the opportunity came after South Korea’s Shin You-min pulled out with a knee injury.A call came in and Koren answered it immediately. The dream he thought was gone was alive again.“After my last fight loss, I got depressed for a while because fighters want to keep fighting and moving forward. Then all of a sudden I got word that I was selected as a backup fighter for the Road to UFC,” Koren recalled.“I was very emotional and very happy because the UFC has always been a dream for me. Even though it was like a replacement, I saw it as another opportunity to show myself and continue my journey. When I finally got confirmation that I would fight, I became emotional again because I knew that moments like this don’t come easily.”For me, it’s more like gratitude and another chance to fight for my dream,” he said in his Ultimate Guide to UFC speech on Sony Sports Network.

More than just another fighting opportunity

Koren will now enter the Road to UFC Season 5 quarterfinals at the Galaxy Arena in Macau against undefeated Japanese bantamweight Ryu Miyaguchi, who has a 7-0 professional record and competes outside of Japan’s elite Shooto and Gladiator MMA circuits.Taller, technically polished and tested in a deeper domestic ecosystem, Miyaguchi presents a significantly stiffer challenge to Koren.There was consternation on weigh-in day as Koren missed his weight by 3.5 pounds, but Miyaguchi accepted the fight.Yet Koren’s struggle goes far beyond what happens inside the cage.Born in the village of Kamu Koireng in Manipur with limited infrastructure and opportunities, Koren experienced fighting long before professional MMA entered the picture. His father died before he was born. A few years later, after the death of his brother in 2019, he carried the burden of supporting his family.There were times when the sport itself felt unsustainable, when wrestling and MMA seemed less like an ambition and more like a luxury. But those closest to him refused to let him go.“In the beginning, I mainly fought for myself and my dream. But now it’s much bigger because I have responsibilities. I fight for my mother, wife and child because they supported me even in the most difficult moments of my career.”“There was a period when I almost stopped wrestling and my life was going in the wrong direction, but my wife and my mother encouraged me to come back to the sport and keep fighting. So now when I leave, I’m taking my family, my people and my country with me. The dream is still the same, but now there’s a lot more responsibility behind it,” he said.

A trip to Dagestan, rebuilt by Koren

And that sense of responsibility hit the Koireng warrior, even more so after defeating Dhanta. Even though the loss hurt, there was no room to either disappear or break down for a long time. Instead, Koren decided to recalibrate.This led him to Dagestan, Russia, a well-known hotbed of elite MMA fighters and UFC champions. It was there, in the midst of the most demanding training environments in the sport, that Koren rebuilt both his game and his mindset.“Before I went there, I was very down mentally after the loss. But I knew I had responsibilities – my mother, my wife and my child depend on me, so I couldn’t stop.”“In Dagestan and during my training camps, I trained with many strong fighters, UFC fighters and experienced wrestlers and strikers. I learned technical wrestling, striking and discipline on another level.”Before, my style was more based on hardness and pressure, but after training I understood more about technique, timing and finishing. The experience also made me more disciplined in my training and mentally stronger,” he said.

Growing presence of Indian MMA fighters

Now, the importance of the Road to UFC in Macau goes beyond the Root itself. The card marks a rare and significant moment for Indian and South Asian MMA representation on the UFC platform.Apart from Indian UFC pioneer Puja Tomar, who will compete in a special feature bout, the event will also feature Nepal’s Rabindra Dhant, the same fighter who dethroned Koren at MFN.Interestingly, the very first edition of the tournament made Indian MMA history when Anshul Jubli won the 2023 lightweight tournament and became the first Indian fighter to secure a UFC contract through the promotion’s official system.In this context, the presence of several Indian fighters on the Macau card signals the growing visibility of the MMA ecosystem in the region.For Koren, however, this moment carries a deep personal meaning.He remembers borrowing money just to register for his first matches. He remembers balancing training at home with manual labor in the rice fields. He remembers how the trainers and villagers helped him keep going at times when it would have been easier to quit.“I come from a very difficult background and there were times when even continuing in the sport was impossible. Many people supported me when I had nothing, including my coaches and people from my village. That’s why I always want to show that fighters from Manipur and India can reach the highest level if given support and opportunities.”This Road to UFC platform is important because people from my state and from India can now see someone from their background fight on this stage. Win or lose, I want the younger fighters to believe that they can also dream bigger and work for those opportunities,” he said.

Possibility of further settlement of Dhanta

Professionally, Koren’s journey has been one of hard-earned progress. Training in Bengaluru and other MMA centers in India while honing his wrestling roots, he built a reputation for his pressure-heavy style and finishing ability.Prior to his loss to Dhant, he put together an impressive winning streak and established himself as one of Matrix Fight Night’s standout bantamweights. Defeat brought this rise to an abrupt halt.Now fate has placed both fighters on opposite sides of the same Road to UFC bracket. If both continue to win, there could be a rematch in the finals, this time with a UFC contract on the line.However, Koren is careful not to look too far ahead.“Right now, my full focus is on the opponent in front of me and doing well on the Road to UFC. But of course, Dhant is part of my journey because I lost my belt in that fight. After this loss, I got back up and worked harder on every part of my game.”If we both make it to the finals and meet again, then it would be a very important fight because this time the stakes would be even higher with a UFC contract on the line. For now, I just want to focus on one fight at a time and show myself in the cage,” he said.

Chengrung Koren takes on Rabindra Dhant

A year ago, Koren was dealing with the impact of a crushing defeat and another missed opportunity. Today, he is two wins away from the UFC and a chance to validate every sacrifice that has gotten him this far.Chungreng Koren faces Ryu Miyaguchi in the quarterfinals of Road to UFC Season 5 bantamweight on May 28, 2026 at the Galaxy Arena in Macau. The event airs on UFC Fight Pass and Sony Sports Network.