China MMA

[GeneChing]

This may well deserve its own indie thread but for now, I'm posting it on MMA in Asia and China MMA.

UFC confirms first event in mainland China with Fight Night Shanghai to take place on November 25

UFC is set to reach new shores with first live event in mainland China
Fight Night Shanghai to take place on November 25 at the Mercedes-Benz Arena
None of the fighters have yet been announced but tickets go on sale August 1

By MATTHEW SMITH FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 12:22 EDT, 30 July 2017 | UPDATED: 13:42 EDT, 30 July 2017

UFC is set to reach new shores after it was announced the first event in mainland China will be held later this year.

UFC Fight Night Shanghai will take place on November 25 at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in the Chinese city.

None of the fighters at the event have yet been announced, however fans will be able to buy tickets from August 1.


UFC is set to reach new shores after it announced the first event in mainland China

UFC senior international vice president Joe Carr said: 'We are always asked when the UFC will be making its debut in mainland China.

'We are honoured to confirm that Shanghai will be the home of the very first live event and to say that we are excited is an understatement. The entire organisation is looking forward to making history this year.'

It was also confirmed that fighters will be touring Shanghai and other Chinese cities to meet fans and promote the event, including UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway.


UFC Fight Night Shanghai is set to take place on November 25 at the Mercedes-Benz Arena

[GeneChing]

The MMA/Chinese Kung Fu Connection by Chris Friedman

China MMA & Yao Honggang

[GeneChing]

The Complicated Morality of a Mixed Martial Arts Fight Club for Impoverished Chinese Boys
Posted 1 September 2017 8:24 GMT


An adolescent was forced to sign a document ending his training at a fight club and sent back home. Screen capture from Beijing News video.

A video of underprivileged adolescent mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters duking it out in a ring, with a large crowd cheering them on, recently went viral on the Chinese web, triggering widespread debate about the morality of recruiting vulnerable children to take part in a violent sport.

In response, government officials — seemingly to save face — yanked some of the children from the club without prior warning, leaving the boys in tears and Chinese netizens worrying about the young ones’ futures.

The original report, entitled “MMA orphans: If you don’t fight, then you can go back home and eat potatoes,” was produced by online media outlet Pear Video. It shows a number of boys between the ages of 12 and 14 fighting. Some of their faces are bloodied.

They belong to EnBo Fight Club in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, founded by a man named En Bo, who used to serve in the Chinese Armed Police Force and won two championships in a district army fighting match.

The video reports that EnBo Fight Club takes in about 400 children of the Yi people, an ethnic minority from Liang Shan Autonomous Prefecture. Rates of drug abuse, HIV and poverty are high in the region. Most of the EnBo children have lost either one or both of their parents, and would have to work hard labor at home.

In the club, they eat foods that might not otherwise be available to them, like beef and eggs. One of the employees from EnBo mentions that the children earn some money from their commercial fights; the money is managed by the club and is given to the children when they need it.

One of the children says that even though the training is hard sometimes, life in the club is much better than back in his hometown. His ultimate dream is to win the UFC (Unlimited Fighting Championship), which comes with a gold belt.



Perhaps unsurprisingly, EnBo Fight Club came under fire after the video report went viral. Chinese netizens furiously debated the ethics of an MMA fighting club for vulnerable boys:

Translation Original Quote
Starting such intense fight training when they are only adolescents will probably cause permanent damage to their bodies in the future.

Translation Original Quote
This is also a good way out to a brighter future, much better than growing up deep in the mountains and then trying to go to the city.

Translation Original Quote
Letting the kids be trained to participate in underground combat and to entertain the gamblers, this is the right path? My god!

Translation Original Quote
How comes starting young in ping pong, gymnastics, or basketball aren’t considered bad for your future, but training to be a fighter is believed to lead to no future, that it can only teach physical fighting and become a hidden danger for society?

‘Is the government’s face more important than the kids?’

Following the attention, on August 17 local authorities from Liang Shan county in Sichuan province stepped in. They pulled some of the children from the club, took them back home, encouraged them to focus on their studies, and promised 748 yuan per month (112 US dollars) as a monthly stipend for those living in extreme poverty.

But club founder En Bo wasn't hosting and training the children without the government's knowledge. He says some government officials from Liang Shan contacted him and sent him the first batch of students. Later more arrangements of the same nature were made.

Some of the criticism centered on the children being deprived of the opportunity to receive China's nine-year compulsory education. En Bo explained to Beijing News that he tried to enroll the boys in schools in Chengdu, but was asked to pay 30,000-50,000 yuan (about 4,500-7,500 US dollars) per child for fixing their local residential permits. Eventually, he decided to start his own night school in the club by hiring four part-time tutors to teach Chinese and math.

continued next post

[GeneChing]

During the interview, the fight club founder choked up when talking about the children having to leave. Below is the full video report of their last day in the club:



Beijing News interviewed a number of the boys, who were in tears when they learned it would be their last day. The video showed children being forcibly dragged away from the club, triggering another heated online debate, but this time, public morality and local government authorities were the subject of scrutiny:

Translation Original Quote
This is the saddest video I’ve seen this year! An outcome of collective vice in the name of “kindness”!

Translation Original Quote
[Imagine] your parents are drug addicts, gamblers or have vanished. In the mountains, you are always starving. One day, a top-level sports club in the city takes you in without asking you for a training fee. It gives you food and Nike sport shoes, provides you with the world's top trainers. You have teachers and friends and have developed a sense of confidence… suddenly, everything ends and you have to return to the mountains. If I were in that situation, I might kill myself.

Translation Original Quote
Admire En Bo, a great dream creator.

Translation Original Quote
Is the government’s face more important than the kids?

Translation Original Quote
When you forcefully took the kids away, did you consider what they think? You are just putting your own desire above the kids, and believe that it’s the right thing to do.

Translation Original Quote
En Bo should use this opportunity to advertise the fight club, if it’s the right road you should keep going! MMA is a very good sport!

Discussions will surely continue, and we can only wish the children all the best in their future.

Written by
Jimmy Wu

This is complicated knowing Chinese culture. It somewhat reminds me of the Opera school where Jackie, Sammo and their martial siblings were trained.

Kids &
China MMA

[GeneChing]

UFC beefs up Chinese presence on its November Shanghai card as it announces the signing of two mainland fighters to its ranks
Main event is Anderson Silva v Kelvin Gastelum slated for November 25 at the Mercedes-Benz Arena
PUBLISHED : Monday, 25 September, 2017, 6:40pm
UPDATED : Monday, 25 September, 2017, 10:51pm

Staff Reporter


Ahead of its mainland debut on November 25, UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) announced the signing of two more Chinese fighters to its growing roster on Monday.
Strawweights Yanan “Mulan” Wu (8-1) and Yan Xiaonan (7-1, 1 NC) both hail from Liaoning province in northeastern China, and have been signed in time to make their debuts on November’s Shanghai card.
Sanda specialist Wu will make her UFC bow at the UFC Fight Night event against American Gina Mazany in a bantamweight match-up.


Xiaonan Yan hails from Liaoning province and will make her UFC debut in Shanghai. Photo: Twitter

Mazany (4-1) fighting out of Las Vegas, Nevada took part in season 18 of The Ultimate Fighter, and is mentored by former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate, who famously beat then bantamweight champion Holly Holm.
The 28-year-old Yan is a well-rounded MMA fighter who counts sanda, muay thai, wrestling and Brazilian ju-jitsu as her specialities. She will take that wealth of skill into the octagon as she faces
Kailin Curran (4-5) from Ewa Beach, Hawaii in Shanghai.
Curran, eager to turn her fortunes around after three straight losses, will be focused on coming away with a decisive win in foreign territory while UFC debutante Yan will draw motivation from the thousands of home fans at the Mercedes-Benz Arena.


Xiaonan Yan is ready to make her UFC debut in Shanghai. Photo: Twitter

Also on the Shanghai card will be rising Chinese star Li “The Leech” Jingliang (13-4). The Beijing-native attended the UFC press conference on Monday, and announced that he and his fellow countryman, Wang “The Dongbei Tiger” Guan (18-1-1) will both participate in China’s first ever live UFC event.


Anderson Silva answers questions from the media in Shanghai. Photo: Getty / Zuffa LLC, UFC Fight Night Shanghai:

Both men are awaiting confirmation of their opponents, which will be announced by the UFC in the coming weeks.
“The response has been tremendous and we are honoured to have such overwhelming support from our loyal fans since we announced our inaugural UFC event in mainland China,” said UFC VP of Asia Pacific Kevin Chang at Monday’s conference.
“This is a historic moment for our company and is set to be one of the most thrilling live events UFC has ever brought to Asia.”
“We’ve been waiting for the right time for UFC to enter the Chinese market and we know that the time is now,” said David He, vice-president of music&live entertainment at WME-IMG China.
“MMA is developing rapidly in China and amassing a large fan base and this is an exciting first step to making the sport a mainstay here.”
The main event on the Shanghai bill will be a hugely anticipated middleweight clash between UFC great Anderson Silva of Brazil and the up-and-coming American Kelvin Gastelum.

https://cdn2.i-scmp.com/sites/defaul...72x_202230.jpg

Interesting...

[GeneChing]

'Happy to be the black Bruce Lee'
By Yang Xinwei | China Daily | Updated: 2017-09-28 07:24
'Happy to be the black Bruce Lee'


Main-event fighters Anderson 'The Spider' Silva (left) and Kelvin Gastelum pose in front of Kevin Chang, UFC's vice-president for Asia Pacific, at Monday's media conference for Fight Night in Shanghai, set for Nov 25 at Mercedes-Benz Arena. [Photo by Hugo Hu/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images]

Longtime UFC champ Silva still feels inspired by Chinese icon

Drawing inspiration from someone they look up to is often very helpful for those who aspire to be professional athletes.

For Octagon fighter Anderson 'The Spider' Silva, his inspiration is Chinese martial arts icon Bruce Lee, who died in Hong Kong in 1973.

"When I was very young, I told my brothers and my mom that I was Bruce Lee. I'm a black Bruce Lee," Silva said on Monday during a media conference for UFC Fight Night Shanghai.

"Lee, Jackie Chan and Donnie Yen, these guys are all my heroes, my Chinese heroes. I think Bruce Lee personifies the greatness of all martial arts, as a fighter and as a professional. When I am training and want to cheer myself up, I think about Bruce Lee. In my life, I'm happy to be the black Bruce Lee."

Could Lee have made the cut in UFC?

"Bruce was an amazing master of the martial arts. If he was around today, he would beat everybody," said the 42-year-old Silva, whose record UFC title streak ended in 2013 after 2,457 days, with 16 consecutive wins.

The Brazilian will face rising American middleweight contender Kelvin Gastelum at Mercedes-Benz Arena on Nov 25.

The media conference kicked off UFC's second promotional tour in as many months, introducing the headline stars before their upcoming clash in the Octagon. In addition to bringing in Silva and Gastelum, UFC announced the signing of two female fighters from Liaoning province - Wu 'Mulan' Yanan (8-1) and Yan Xiaonan (7-1-1).

Wu will face American Gina Mazany in a bantamweight matchup. Mazany (4-1), who appeared in Season 18 of The Ultimate Fighter, is mentored by former UFC women's bantamweight champ Miesha Tate and will be looking to upset Wu's ambitions for a home victory.

The 28-year-old Yan is a well-rounded MMA fighter who counts sanda, Muay Thai, wrestling and Brazilian jiu-jitsu as her specialties. She will square off with Kailin Curran (4-5) of the US.

Rising welterweight star Li Jingliang (13-4), fighting out of Beijing, announced that he and compatriot Wang Guan (18-1-1) of Northeast China will both participate in China's first live UFC event. Both are awaiting confirmation of their opponents.

"We first started around 10 years ago, when nobody knew what UFC or MMA was. To come from that point to where we are now, it's been a fantastic dream come true and it will continue to develop in this part of the world," said Kevin Chang, UFC vice-president of Asia Pacific.

"The response has been tremendous and we are honored to have such overwhelming support from our loyal fans since we announced our inaugural UFC event on the Chinese mainland. This is a historic moment for our company and set to be one of the most thrilling live events UFC has ever brought to Asia".

Gastelum said he's looking forward to his fight with Silva.

"Anderson Silva is one of the greatest of all time. But you have to recognize that his time as champion is over. He hasn't won a lot recently. And now I feel like it's my time," said the 25-year-old California native.

"He's got millions, he's got cars and houses. And I want the same things for me."

In conjunction with UFC Fight Night Shanghai, Sina Sports launched a nationwide fitness competition to discover China's first Octagon Girl. Interest was so strong that UFC has named not one but two women to represent China on the Fight Night: Wang Jingjing from Beijing and Pan Xiao from Suzhou.

yangxinwei@chinadaily.com.cn

Silva & China MMA

[GeneChing]

This may well deserve its own indie thread but for now, I'm posting it on MMA in Asia and China MMA.

I guess it didn't really deserve it's own indie thread after all.

UFC FIGHT NIGHT SAT. NOV. 25, 2017 BISPING VS GASTELUM

Bisping v s Gastelum Bisping WIN Gastelum **
Jingliang v s Ottow WIN Jingliang **
Ottow Guan v s Caceres WIN Guan
Caceres Salikhov v s Garcia Salikhov WIN Garcia
EARLY PRELIMS 3:45AM/12:45AM ETPT
Magomedsharipov v s Moraes W Magomedsharipov **
Moraes Kenan v s Nash WIN Kenan Nash
Curran v s Xiaonan Curran WIN Xiaonan

[GeneChing]

This looks promising.

MMA: From Shaolin temple to MMA star - meet China's 'Monkey King'


MMA star Song Yadong has recently replaced "The Terminator" as his fight name with "The Monkey King", in reference to the mythical Chinese hero Sun Wukong.PHOTO: AFP

PUBLISHED NOV 23, 2018, 5:23 PM SGT

BEIJING (AFP) - Song Yadong was so obsessed with Chinese martial arts that he convinced him mother to pack him up and send him off to learn at the feet of the famous kung fu masters of Shaolin.

He was just nine years old at the time.

"I had watched a lot of kung fu movies, so I wanted to be like my heroes, like Jet Li," said Song. "I went to Shaolin and I trained, getting up each day at 5am. It was harder than I ever expected."

A decade later and Song's thirst for action has led him into the ranks of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and on to the biggest stage in mixed martial arts.

"I left Shaolin after two years and then I learned about MMA," said the 20-year-old. "I like the action, I like the fact every fight tests you and that you always have to work to be the best fighter you can be."

Song is at the forefront of the Las Vegas-based promotion's push into China, the country many consider the spiritual home of all martial arts, and the Tianjin-born fighter is among nine locals set to take part in the UFC's first fight card to be held in the Chinese capital.

Saturday (Nov 24) night sees the UFC Fight Night 141 event at Beijing's Cadillac Arena headlined by a blockbuster bout between heavyweight contenders Cameroonian-Frenchman Francis "The Predator" Ngannou (11-3) and American Curtis "Razor" Blaydes.

But there is little doubt where Chinese fans' attention - and hopes - will rest.

"It will be the biggest chance for us Chinese fighters and for the sport to grow in China," said Song, who will face American Vince "Vandetta" Morales on Saturday night.

Song's rise to the UFC has captured China's attention, as has the origin story he carries with him.

When he was 15, Song was so focused on becoming a professional MMA fighter that he used a forged ID card to convince local promotions that he was 18, and legally allowed to fight.

"I was super-aggressive back then," said Song. "I just wanted to fight so I used the fake ID. I looked strong enough so they believed me."

After plying his trade in domestic and regional fight promotions - and racking up a fight record of 10 wins and three losses - Song received a surprise call last November, just weeks before the UFC was set to make its debut in mainland China.

Called in to replace an injured fighter on the UFC Fight Night 122 card, Song needed just over four minutes to choke out India's Bharat Khandare. He has since backed up that performance with a second-round knockout of the Brazilian veteran Filipe Arantes in Singapore in June, and so comes to Beijing on a 2-0 run and with a 12-3 win-loss record overall.

"There is still a lot of room for improvement in my skills," said Song. "I am focused on winning step by step, fight by fight. I have been training with (UFC Hall of Famer) Urijah Faber and his Team Alpha Male in California and I am learning.

"Chinese fighters need more experience but soon we will be a force."

The UFC currently has 11 Chinese fighters on its books, a mix of established stars such as the veteran welterweight Li "The Leech" Jingliang and rising stars such as Song and female strawweight Zhang Weili, with all three in action on Saturday.

This week the organisation announced an investment of around US$13 million (S$17.8 million) in what it called the world's biggest MMA academy in Shanghai, designed to help Chinese fighters make the transition from smaller fight promotions to the UFC octagon.

Song has recently replaced "The Terminator" as his fight name with "The Monkey King", in reference to the mythical Chinese hero Sun Wukong.

He believes China's rich history in martial arts has the country - and its fighters - well positioned as MMA continues to take hold.

"We have the history in China," said Song. "This is only the beginning."

THREADS
Shaolin in the Ring and Cage
China MMA

[GeneChing]

UFC Wants to Turn Shanghai Into a Mixed Martial Arts Mecca
The company says it’s going to build the world’s largest MMA training facility in the eastern Chinese megacity.
Kenrick Davis
Nov 29, 2018 5-min read

SHANGHAI — It’s been a big month for mixed martial arts in China. On Nov. 20, the sport’s largest promotion company, Ultimate Fighting Championship, or UFC, announced plans for a $13 million training center in China. The 93,000-square-foot UFC Performance Institute Shanghai will be the largest MMA training facility in the world and will feature a gym, sparring areas, recovery pools, and the sport’s iconic octagonal rings — one complete with stadium-style lighting and spectator seating.

UFC said at a press conference in Shanghai last week that the center will help train China’s next generation of MMA fighters and spread the sport throughout the country. There are currently 11 Chinese fighters — eight men and three women — on UFC’s roster of 461 athletes from around the world, and the company hopes to triple this figure in 2019. In just the past year, the number of users on social app WeChat who follow UFC’s official account has increased by 60 percent.

On Saturday, UFC held its 141st Fight Night event at Beijing’s Cadillac Arena to a crowd of over 10,000 — the second time an installment in the series had ever been staged in China. Although a faceoff between elite heavyweights Curtis Blaydes and Francis Ngannou was nominally the night’s main draw, two local fighters attracted the most attention from domestic media present at the event — and they did not disappoint their home crowd.

UFC’s most experienced Chinese fighter, Li Jingliang — known as The Leech for his mastery of headlock submission holds — defeated his German opponent, David Zawada, by delivering a deft kick to the midsection. Meanwhile, 20-year-old rising star Song Yadong — dubbed The Kung Fu Monkey after the simian hero in the Chinese epic “Journey to the West” — won his fight against American Vince Morales in three rounds. The three female Chinese participants — all of whom won their matches — also turned heads, especially Zhang Weili, who “mauled” veteran Jessica Aguilar of the U.S. to claim her 18th straight victory.


Chinese mixed martial artist Zhang Weili celebrates after her victory at UFC’s first-ever event in Beijing, Nov. 24, 2018. Courtesy of UFC

The MMA training facility coming to Shanghai represents a major investment in developing the sport in China, where it was little-known just a decade ago, Kevin Chang, the Asia-Pacific vice president of UFC, told Sixth Tone during last week’s press conference. When the company entered the Chinese market in 2011, there were myriad misconceptions about MMA — like whether it was real fighting or merely a testosterone-fueled performance akin to a World Wrestling Entertainment event.

Over the past few years, the sport has gradually found a foothold in China thanks to UFC, local promoters, and the Singapore-based ONE Championship, with specialized MMA gyms popping up across the country. For its part, UFC has cultivated a Chinese fan base by inking broadcasting deals, expanding its social media presence, and grooming local stars like Li, who has over half a million followers on microblogging platform Weibo.

But the sport has also courted its fair share of controversy. In April 2017, MMA fighter and promoter Xu Xiaodong attempted to demonstrate the superiority of his craft by pummelling an older, portlier tai chi master in a heavily criticized fight. More recently, a brawl that ensued on the sidelines of a high-profile Las Vegas showdown between MMA stars Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov — known among Chinese fans by their respective nicknames, Mouth Cannon and Little Eagle — was widely reported and commented on in China.

Reputation management remains an ongoing challenge for such an inherently violent pastime, said Chang. “We’re not a bloodless sport,” he said candidly, adding that lax standards at local, non-UFC events — many of which don’t have the resources to test athletes for doping — have led to incidents that tarnish the sport’s reputation. “When something quote-unquote ‘bad’ happens in MMA, it affects all of us, and it affects that perception which we’re trying so hard to correct,” Chang said, noting that conditions at domestically organized fights seem to be improving at least.


American mixed martial artist Vince Morales protects himself from a punch thrown by his Chinese opponent, Song Yadong, at a UFC Fight Night event in Beijing, Nov. 24, 2018. Courtesy of UFC

American Ramsey Dewey, a former MMA fighter who now runs a gym in Shanghai, describes some of the hassles he experienced in the sport’s early days in China on his popular YouTube channel: a fighter covering himself in oil to slip out of holds, promoters vanishing without making payments, trainers supplying banned materials to bind fighters’ hands, and competitors kicking the heads of their fallen opponents. According to Dewey, his MMA career ended after a bout with a Chinese fighter who had wrapped his fingers with a dangerous kind of tape provided by event organizers. “One single punch shattered my skull,” Dewey says in one of his videos, explaining how certain wrapping materials can pack a harder punch.

Although most injuries are superficial and not life-threatening, local authorities can be nervous about events taking place under their watch, UFC fighter Wang Guan told Sixth Tone at last week’s press conference. Wang — or The Dongbei Tiger, as he’s sometimes known — competed in China’s first Fight Night event a year ago. He’s also the man Dewey says forced him into early retirement, though Wang maintains that his hand bindings were legitimate. According to the Chinese fighter, officials are afraid of competitors suffering severe injuries and have been known to shut events down early. Nevertheless, Wang said MMA in China has come a long way in recent years — particularly with respect to the quality of referees, whose split-second decisions can prevent curtailed careers — and he’s bullish about its continued growth.

“Judging by how things are developing in China, I think MMA will be the dominant fighting sport here in the future,” he said.

For now, though, Chinese fans are holding out for a champion and remain only slightly bitter that local fighters seem to have such a hard time getting matched up against the world’s leading competitors. Li, for example, has had 11 UFC fights, but none were against top-40 opponents. But according to Chang, UFC’s Asia-Pacific vice president, it’s only a matter of time before Chinese fighters will have the chance to prove themselves against elite competition.

“Even before the establishment of the Shanghai Performance Institute, some of our [Chinese fighters] could already hang with the best of the best — it takes years to get a title shot,” Chang said. “I don’t think it’s unrealistic to expect that we’ll have some contenders in the next couple years.”

Editor: David Paulk.

(Header image: Li Jingliang of China lands a kick against David Zawada of Germany during the UFC Fight Night in Beijing, Nov. 24, 2018. Greg Baker/VCG)

THREADS
China MMA
You too could own a UFC Gym
That MMA vs Taiji Fight Everyones Talking About
UFC Performance Institute Shanghai

[GeneChing]

I know he's just got two posts as of this one, but I'm giving Song Yadong is own thread beyond just Shaolin in the Ring and Cage & China MMA. I'm also copying this to our Monkey King thread for cross-ref.

UFC 239: China’s Song Yadong – inspired by Jet Li and the Monkey King – is out to conquer the world
The 21-year-old Chinese phenom blows veteran fighter away in Las Vegas and sets his sights on UFC Shenzhen
‘Kung Fu Monkey’ trained outside Shaolin Temple as a child before turning up at Team Alpha Male – and Hall of Famer Urijah Faber is his biggest fan
Mathew Scott
Published: 7:59pm, 7 Jul, 2019


Song Yadong celebrates a win at UFC Singapore. Photo: Handout

If Alejandro “Turbo” Perez had managed to eye the clock just before his head hit the canvas he might have seen that 2:04 of the first round had elapsed in his bout against Song “Kung Fu Monkey” Yadong.
What’s more likely, though, is that Mexican’s lights were already out, and that he woke seconds later simply wondering what the hell had hit him.
Fans across North America were left pondering the very same thing.
Not much had been known, stateside, about the 21-year-old bantamweight (14-3, two no contests) before Sunday’s heroics at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and a huge right hand ended the night for a Perez who was eight years older and of considerable more experience, in UFC terms at least, at 21-8-1.

Embedded video

Niall McGrath
✔
@niallmcgrath4
Here’s the finish from Yadong

��pic.twitter.com/G5lnX98R9h #UFC239

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Hall of Famer Urijah Faber had been preaching from the MMA pulpit ever since Song turned up at his Team Alpha Male gym in Sacramento asking for his skill set to be fine-tuned.
In Vegas over the past week Faber had been telling all who listened what Song was all about, continuing a sermon that started in Singapore back in June last year, not too long after he’d started working with the Chinese fighter.


Song Yadong at UFC Shanghai. Photo: Handout

“All this kid wants to do is learn,” Faber said back then. “You teach him something and he wants to practise again and again. You almost have to force him out of the gym.”
But Asia – and China in particular – has over the past 18 months taken the rising star from Tianjin to heart, as has the world’s premier promotion as it spreads its reach through the region, and into the Middle Kingdom.
As the second-youngest fighter on the UFC’s books Song stood smiling, once his arm had been raised and his record in the promotion had been stretched to a 4-0 that now includes two performance of the night bonuses. Song just keeps stepping up.



“I was practising that punch. My coach made that call for me to train that specific technique,” Yadong said. “I was prepared to fight all three rounds. I didn’t expect to finish the fight so fast. I’m very happy with the win. I want to fight a top 10 opponent next.”
He’s certainly earned it and the UFC certainly know they’re on to a good thing.
There’s the Song origin story, for starters.


Song Yadong poses on the scale during the UFC Fight Night weigh-in at the Mandarin Oriental on in Singapore in June 2018. Photo: Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

So keen was the young Song on finding a career as a fighter that his family agreed to send him to the kung fu schools that line the walls of the famed Shaolin Temple when he was just nine years old. It was a tough life, long hours of training and chores.
But Song says that it still wasn’t enough. He wanted not so much to train but to fight.
“I had watched a lot of kung fu movies, so I wanted to be like my heroes, like Jet Li,” Song said last year. “I went to Shaolin and I trained, getting up each day at 5am. It was harder than I ever expected. I left Shaolin after two years and then I learned about MMA. I like the action, I like the fact every fight tests you and that you always have to work to be the best fighter you can be.”


Song Yadong (right) in action at UFC Singapore. Photo: Handout

And so the journey shifted to MMA and to a fake ID that had Song inside the MMA cage at the age of 15. He drifted through the regional promotions while still a wide-eyed teen – from One Championship, through Kunlun Fight and Wu Lin Feng. But then came a late call-up as the UFC made its debut in Shanghai in November 2017.
Little, again, was known about Song until, that is, he demolished India’s Bharat “Daring” Khandare (5-3) and looked for all the world that he was born to fight among the world’s best, despite the fact he was still 19.
After Sunday’s fight, and after hardly raising a sweat, Song called on the UFC also to throw him back into the fray as part of its Shenzhen card on August 31.


Song Yadong is now 4-0 in the UFC. Photo: Handout

That event features a first for China as Zhang “Magnum” Weili (19-1), who faces Brazilian champ Jessica Andrade (20-6) for her strawweight belt and looks to be crowned the first UFC champion from her nation.
Last month, the UFC opened the doors on its multimillion dollar Performance Institute in Shanghai, with boss Dana White declaring it’ll be a “game-changer” for local fighters.
Song will no doubt see what’s on offer there, as will his good friend and Team Alpha Male gym pal Liu Pingyuan (13-5), the fellow bantamweight who’s up next for China, against American Jonathan Martinez (10-2) on the UFC Fight Night 155 card in Sacramento on July 13.

Embedded video

Nick Baldwin
@NickBaldwinMMA
If you need pointers on how to pronounce Song Yadong's name, the UFC bantamweight prospect has you covered.

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7:00 PM - Jul 6, 2019
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Chinese fighters are on a 15-6 UFC record since the start of 2018, and Song for one believes things are only just getting started.
“I will be working towards the belt,” he told the media after Sunday’s win. “I don’t know when it will happen but I’ll be working hard, waiting for the chance to happen.”

****, this weekend in Sacto, but I'm already booked for the ITKFA Championships.

[GeneChing]

The Takedown by Nicolas Atkin
Has China banned tattoos in MMA? Reports of crackdown on fighters but it’s complicated
‘If you have tattoos, they don’t want you competing,’ says Thailand’s Phuket Top Team
The famed gym claims government has tightened rules for local promoters – but the issue appears to be muddy
Nicolas Atkin
Published: 10:12am, 20 Jul, 2019


Song Yadong’s tattoo on his left leg. The fighter poses (right) before his win against Renato Moicano. Photos: Instagram/@songyadong

Chinese MMA took a huge step forward with the opening of the state-of-the-art UFC Performance Institute in Shanghai last month. But there were concerns this week it might have taken a strange step backwards.
Last year, China’s top media regulator, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, decreed that media programmes “should not feature actors with tattoos [or depict] hip hop culture, subculture and dispirited culture”, according to a report in Chinese news outlet Sina.
This later widened to televised sport, with footballers in China’s three professional leagues told by the Chinese Football Association to cover up tattoos with athletic tape – “no visible ink” was the word from the top.
The issue has also appeared to touch MMA and other combat sports with rules said to be in place across CCTV and other major state broadcasters.
“The new bosses of CCTV have introduced laws to stamp out crime, so there’s no bad officials, no bad police and no more bad influencers on society in the media. This includes people with tattoos,” a senior official who works closely with the government told Asian MMA website The Fight Nation.
Chinese fighters have been able to get away with covering up any tattoos with rash guards or tape, just like their footballing counterparts – but one of the top Muay Thai/MMA crossover gyms in Thailand claimed this week the rules have recently become even stricter.
“MMA in China has made another strange step … No tattoos allowed,” Phuket Top Team tweeted. “Fighters are having to wear rash guards or tape over tattoos. Promoters are getting bored of that and now just saying NO fighters with tattoos allowed. That sure does take out a large pool of pro fighters.”
Phuket Top Team claimed the no tattoos rule was “direct from the Chinese government” and combat sport representatives.
“If you have tattoos, they don’t want you competing in MMA/kick-boxing,Sanda/Muay Thai or boxing in China,” it said. “Combat sports have been BOOMING in China! Now the government has banned tattoos from being streamed or televised.”

Phuket Top Team
@PhuketTopTeam
#phukettopteam welcome @ufc No.5 Ranked featherweight@zabeast_mma 💪🏼
Sharpening his #muaythai in Thailand at PTT 🇹🇭

Riding a 13 fight win streak.
5-0 undefeated in the UFC

Zabit is a DANGEROUS man inside the Octagon@joerogan @TheFightNation @UFC_Asia @UFCRussia

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12:38 AM - Jul 16, 2019 · Phuket Top Team
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Phuket Top Team has several UFC veterans and stars on its roster – featherweight Zabit Magomedsharipov and welterweight Zelim Imadaev are both there right now sharpening their Muay Thai skills in camp – so their voice clearly carries some weight.
The gym claimed that in the past two weeks, every local promotion in China had contacted them asking if they had any tattoo-free fighters, while a few said fighters can have tattoos but only ones small enough to be covered up with patches or wraps. Many Chinese fight promotions are broadcast on state television or streamed within China, such as WLF, Kunlun and Glory of Heroes.
“This will rapidly decline the fight scene in China. A huge shame for all of the top fighters who were embracing the fight scene there,” Phuket Top Team added in a reply to another tweet. “UFC and One Championship are two major [organisations] that have been hitting the Chinese MMA market. Now they need tattoo-free athletes to fill cards.”


Jessica Andrade and Zhang Weili (right) will compete in the main event of UFC Shenzhen. Photo: UFC

Of course, the UFC has a big Shenzhen show coming up on August 31, where Zhang Weili will be the first Chinese fighter to challenge for a UFC title when she takes on Brazilian straw weight champion (and heavily tattooed) Jessica Andrade. The UFC signed a five-year exclusive rights agreement in China with PPTV Sports, the nation’s leading online sports platform, in 2016.
None of the UFC’s nine other Chinese fighters have been announced for the card yet, though only Song Yadong has tattoos, on his left leg.
In the only other announced fight for the card, neither New Zealand’s Kai-Kara France nor American Mark De La Rosa have visible tattoos. The Post reached out to UFC China for clarification on the rules – and received no response.
One Championship told the Post there is no issue with foreign athletes who have tattoos competing on their fight cards in China.
For Chinese athletes with tattoos, One always asks the fighters to cover them up whenever they do promotional material such as interviews – but not for fights – on Chinese shows.
Officially, the Chinese government has not sanctioned a law on the matter, however, One said, adding that the rule applies more for football players and less so combat sports, with the reports of new changes to the rule just a rumour.


Tattooed American fighter Troy Worthen fights against China’s Chen Rui. Photo: One Championship

China is not the only Asian country, though, that has a problem with tattoos. Japan will host two of the world’s biggest sporting events – the Rugby World Cup and the Olympics – in the next 14 months. World Rugby has warned players and fans to cover their ink later this year, in a bid not to offend their host where body art is associated with criminal gangs.
Rugby players and fans are one thing but MMA and its followers are a different beast. Tattoos and combat sports go hand in hand, and are a way of life.
“You can imagine how many of the world’s best fighters they have eliminated from being able to fight in China,” Phuket Top Team tweeted, presuming that the no tattoo rule would also apply to foreign fighters.
The issue is certainly unclear, and one to keep an eye on.

THREADS
China MMA
Kung Fu (and other Martial Arts) Tattoos
Song Yadong

[SteveLau]

Well, it means some governments are quite backward in the attitude towards tatto.



Regards,

KC
Hong Kong

[GeneChing]

UFC heading to China for Dana White's Contender Series in 2020
Oct 30, 2019
Brett Okamoto
ESPN Staff Writer

The UFC's expansion into Asia, specifically China, will continue in 2020 with the launch of an Asian installment of Dana White's Tuesday Night Contender Series.

The promotion announced plans Wednesday for the new show. Fights will take place at the UFC's new Performance Institute in Shanghai. Distribution details are still to be determined.

"One of my favorite parts of my job is looking for up-and-coming talent," White said in a prepared statement. "There's no area in the world right now with more potential MMA talent than Asia. We're going to use Dana White's Contender Series to find these fighters, develop them and give them the opportunity to perform on the biggest stage in combat sports."

The UFC has made its expansion into China a priority in recent years. Chinese talent has grown along with UFC investment. In August, the promotion crowned its first ever Chinese champion, female strawweight Zhang Weili.

Domestically, the DWTNCS has been held in Las Vegas. Cards consist of five bouts, after which White offers athletes contracts.

The show has produced notable talent in Maycee Barber, Edmen Shahbazyan and Sean O'Malley, among others.

I've been saying this for a long time - more Chinese MMA champs are coming. Everyone wants a piece of the PRC market, especially UFC.

[GeneChing]

I'll say it again. More Chinese MMA champs are coming. Everyone wants a piece of the PRC market, especially UFC.

Another Chinese MMA fighter on the rise in UFC as Alateng Heili eyes top 15 after Busan win
‘The Mongolian Knight’ makes it back-to-back UFC victories at Fight Night in Korea
‘I think there will be more Chinese fighters who can get into the UFC rankings, including myself,’ he says
Nick Atkin
Published: 5:28pm, 24 Dec, 2019


Alateng Heili speaks to the ‘Post’ in Busan after his win at UFC Fight Night against Ryan Benoit.

China is starting to mark its stamp all over the world of the UFC, what with its first champion in Zhang Weili and two other ranked fighters in Song Yadong and Li Jingliang.
There could be another one soon. “The Mongolian Knight” Alateng Heili secured a gutsy split decision win against Ryan Benoit at UFC Fight Night Busan last Saturday. That made it back-to-back wins at bantamweight in Shenzhen and Korea for the UFC Shanghai Performance Centre academy graduate.
“I think there will be more Chinese fighters than can get into the UFC rankings,” Alateng told the Post at Sajik Arena. “The training facilities there and the coaches are world-class level. So I think in the near future there will be more fighters in the top 15.
“Including myself,” he adds with a smile, pointing at his chest.



From China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region, Alateng lost six of his first 10 fights, but a remarkable turnaround has seem him won 10 of his past 12, with one draw.
Now, after fining tuning his craft at the UFC’s US$13 million state-of-the-art facilities in Shanghai, and announcing himself at Fight Night Shenzhen with a unanimous decision win over Danaa Batgerel in August, it feels like the 28-year-old is only just getting started.
“Definitely the Performance Institute helps me a lot, not just for training but also my life there,” he said. “It makes my life easier with the whole training facilities. If I didn’t train at the PI, I may not get the win tonight.”
The Performance Institute has also helped Chinese MMA veteran Li “The Leech” Jingliang finally break into the welterweight rankings at No 15, while Yan “The Fury” Xiaonan was also recently ranked in the women’s strawweight division.
China’s “Kung Fu Monkey” Song, who trains out of Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, California, under the tutelage of UFC legend Urijah Faber, is ranked 13th in the bantamweight division.


Alateng Heili at the UFC Performance Institute Shanghai. Photo: Elaine Yau
For now, it is Zhang who is taking the lead for China – she makes her first strawweight title defence against Joanna Jedrzejczyk on March 7 in Las Vegas.
“I used to train with her for a long time, so I know she trains very hard, that’s why she can win the title,” Alateng said. “I’m definitely inspired by that.”
Alateng fought on the prelims of that Shenzhen card, where Zhang triumphed in the main event against Jessica Andrade. He hopes for another taste of glory on home soil in Shanghai next year, but he isn’t being picky.


Alateng Heili wants to fight in Shanghai next year. Photo: Elaine Yau

“To get the third win is next,” he said. “Any opponent that the UFC puts in front of me I will fight.
“Hopefully we have an event in Shanghai, I’d love to fight there. But if there’s fights before the Shanghai event definitely I can take it. I’m always ready, I will not refuse any fight.
“If I have the chance to fight in Vegas – which is the dreamland to fight in combat sports – to fight on those pay-per-view events, it will definitely be a dream come true.”

[BalaklavaS]

**** I like this topic. As I know many fighters now in UFC are Kung Fu fighters. For example Zabit Magomedsharipov is a King Fu fighter. He fights really very unusual and beautiful. I have ever seen many kicks which Zabit does. That is a great example of a brillian Kung fu master. I never skip his fights. I and my friends are always watching them on spam streaming service.