David G. McIntyre-USA TODAY Sports
It’s been a long road for Chinese MMA, but the world’s most populace country can now claim a champion in Weili Zhang. At whose expense did China find success?
I can’t help but think things couldn’t have gone better for the UFC. Not that Jessica Andrade losing the belt is a bad thing, nor is it bad Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos had his seven-fight win streak snapped. No, it’s that the UFC finally appears to be making some headway in the most populace country in the world, China. Weili Zhang became the first Chinese champion when she dethroned Andrade and while Jingliang Li was already established as a UFC talent, he made himself an established ranked talent when he overthrew dos Santos, the first fighter in the male rankings to do so. The rest of the contests were largely inconsequential in the big picture, but you know damn well I’ve got it all covered.
Winners
Weili Zhang: It’s plausible Andrade wasn’t taking Zhang serious. The lone notable win on her ledger was against Tecia Torres and Andrade already ran through her. Zhang didn’t care that most saw her as being in the right place at the right time for the UFC’s trip to China and couldn’t have been more prepared. Andrade underestimated Zhang’s power, rushed her – as she does everyone – and paid the price as Zhang unloaded a barrage of offense that eventually stopped the intimidating Brazilian. In the process, Zhang proved her fight intellect is not only up there with the best, but that she possesses the physical skills to hang with the best when she finished of Andrade, something no one else at strawweight had been able to do. There is a bit of a Holly Holm-esque feel to this win – low ranked opponent upends champion – and Holm was unable to secure a single successful title defense. Until Zhang gets in a defense, those comparisons will hound her. Until then, she should revel in being champion.
Jingliang Li: As surprising as Zhang’s win was – and it was one of the biggest shockers of the year – I was even more surprised by Li’s win. It isn’t just that he won. It was how he won, being the more technical striker over dos Santos. When dos Santos recognized he needed to secure a finish, Li used effective footwork to avoid the Brazilian’s attack, frustrating dos Santos. I’m not forgetting about Li’s knockdowns, early or late. I wouldn’t have been as shocked had Li lured dos Santos into a brawl and knocked him to the mat. That isn’t how he did it though. It was with precision and strategy. Basically, there was nothing flukish about this victory whatsoever. The win should give him a place in the rankings, hopefully a top ten opponent too.
Kai Kara-France: About the only thing Kara-France could have done to make this a complete performance was to secure a finish. Otherwise, it’s hard to find much to fault his performance. He did a better job of putting together combinations. He hurt Mark De La Rosa on several occasions. He stuffed most of De La Rosa’s takedown attempts, not to mention his own successful attempt at taking the fight to the ground. I wouldn’t say Kara-France is ready to be fighting the best of the division – though he may not have much of a choice at this point – but he has come a very long way from where he was when he made his appearance on TUF a few years ago.
Mizuki Inoue: I had picked Inoue to win against Yanan Wu as Inoue understood who she was in the cage while Wu was still trying to figure out her identity. That played out to perfection in the cage as Inoue was the more physical fighter in the cage despite being significantly smaller. Every time they clinched up, Inoue did damage with short punches and elbows. The size disparity took away Inoue’s advantage on the ground she usually has, making her win over Wu that much more impressive. I’m as high on Inoue as I’ve ever been.
Anthony Hernandez: There were some shaky moments for the American, but Hernandez found a way to pull it off in the end. Jun Yong Park was piecing up the youngster, forcing Hernandez to call an audible and go to his wrestling. It didn’t look like that would work early, but Hernandez stuck to it and eventually wore down Park enough to find an anaconda choke. A nice rebound for a prospect many were beginning to doubt.
Su Mudaerji: Did Mudaerji improve that much or did his opponent, Andre Soukhamthath, just fall off a cliff? The answer is somewhere in between. Regardless, Mudaerji stuffed Soukhamthath’s takedown attempts, showed some nice trips, and was far more active on the feet to secure a dominant decision over an established opponent. I have no doubt Soukhamthath’s broken hand contributed to his lack of activity, making me reluctant to put too much stock into Mudaerji’s dominance, but the youngster deserves some credit.
Da Un Jung: Regardless of whether Jung benefitted from Khadis Ibragimov taking their contest on short notice, the Korean endured an early storm and did what he needed to for the win. Once Ibragimov exhausted his energy, Jung began picking him apart with strikes before Ibragimov went to the wrestling. Jung wisely went for a standing guillotine as Ibragimov didn’t have the energy to fight it off, resulting in the first finish of the night. Jung showed a lot poise for such a young fighter. Aside from Zhang, there may not be a fighter whose stock went up more in my eyes.
Damir Ismagulov: It was hard not to be impressed with the Russian’s performance. Surgical was the optimal word for his performance, picking apart Thiago Moises little by little with minimal adversity. After Ismagulov picked apart Moises on the feet, the Brazilian tried to take the feet to the ground. Ismagulov responded by bullying him on the ground with knees to the body. He even began opening up with spinning and jumping attacks in the final round. Wherever the fight went, Ismagulov was in control.
Heili Alateng: Sure, there was a clear gulf in not just Alateng’s skill level and that of his opponent, Danaa Batgerel, from the majority of the UFC roster. But Alateng did what he needed to overcome Batgerel, countering effectively early before going to takedowns and GnP to take the last round. Beating the opponent in front of you is all you can ask of him and Alateng did that. Don’t expect to see him in this column after his next fight.
Karol Rosa: Rosa still has a long way to go in her development, but there was enough to like from her win over Lara Procopio. Rosa showed a deep gas tank, throwing combinations throughout the course of the contest. The stamina and volume allowed her to win as Procopio faded down the stretch. Now if Rosa can figure out the concept of defense….
China: Y’all remember the disaster that was TUF China? You know, the TUF chapter that featured a yoga instructor who somehow found their way onto the cast? The state of Chinese MMA has come a long way in the five years since that debacle took place. The UFC changed up their strategy in the process and now they have their foothold into a country with over a billion people. Don’t underestimate what having a champion representing them can do for the popularity of the sport. Zhang’s win could very well awaken a sleeping dragon.
Losers
Jessica Andrade: Andrade discovered it’s a little different when the hunter becomes the hunted. Zhang had the then-champion scouted out perfectly, a common occurrence when you have what everyone else desires. Andrade didn’t add any new wrinkles to her style and it cost her. I’m not saying she needed to change everything about her approach, but offering something new tends to give opponents pause. Maybe Andrade did have a new trick in her bag – the contest was over in 42 seconds after all – but it appeared to be a matter of time before someone made her pay for her reckless aggression. Zhang did just that and now Andrade is an ex-champion. At 27, there’s a strong likelihood she gets back into the title picture.
Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos: Dos Santos wasn’t getting any love from the UFC brass when he was on a seven-fight win streak. He sure as hell isn’t going to get any now with the streak snapped. What sucks even more about it is it doesn’t feel like he would win should they run the contest back. Li executed the perfect game plan against him and there is no doubt others will try to copy it. I can’t help but feel dos Santos is going to have a hard time bouncing back as part of the success of such a long win streak is the confidence associated with it. Well, it’s likely that confidence has been shattered. We’ll see.
Derrick Krantz: There aren’t many available fighters on the roster who presented Krantz with a better opportunity to pick up a win than Song Kenan, but Krantz still couldn’t close the deal. I’m not saying Krantz looked like crap – Kenan looked improved – but he badly needed a win if he hoped to make his UFC stay longer than a footnote. Though it could be argued Krantz deserved the W, he didn’t do enough for anyone to label Kenan’s win a robbery. It could have gone either way. Given Krantz was the favorite, that hurts.
Yanan Wu: When it looks like you should be fighting two full weight classes above your opponent – and Wu did at one time – you’d damn well better be winning. Wu didn’t. It seemed like she was unaware that she was the larger fighter in the cage, attempting to point fight with low kicks being the primary form of offense. She did find some success with that as Inoue had trouble closing the distance, but Wu should have been looking to bully the much smaller fighter, landing hard strikes as opposed to point fighting. In the end, it cost Wu a chance at a notable scalp.
Jun Yong Park: There was a lot to like about Park’s performance. He showed excellent timing on the counter, easily outpointing Hernandez in the early portion of their contest. However, Hernandez eventually broke the young Korean with his relentless pressure. Hernandez isn’t the most intense pressure fighter at middleweight – he himself had previously been similarly broken in his previous appearance – so unless Park learns from this in the same way Hernandez learned from his loss, he’s going to be in trouble.
Andre Soukhamthath: Far and away, that was Soukhamthath’s worst performance of his career. While a good chunk of his inactivity can be attributed to his broken hand, that can’t be blamed for everything that went wrong for Soukhamthath. For one, it was shocking to see he was unable to secure a takedown given Soukhamthath’s recent wrestling improvements. For another, he also has a history of inactivity. However, the worst part about it is the loss probably knocks Soukhamthath out of the UFC, running his record in the Octagon to 2-5.
Thiago Moises: It’s hard to get excited about Moises’ potential when he turns in tentative performances like this. The 24-year old is a good athlete with great BJJ chops. However, he never made a serious effort to be the aggressor, even when Ismagulov was well ahead on the scorecards. It’s maddening to see a fighter stick with a strategy that clearly isn’t working. Nonetheless, that’s what Moises did. He’s still early enough in his career
Lara Procopio: Much of what can be said about Rosa can also be said about Procopio. She pushed a hard pace and doesn’t seem to understand moving out of the trajectory of her opponent’s offense would help her chances of winning. However, Procopio’s gas tank wasn’t quite as deep, giving away the final and ultimately pivotal round. I didn’t hate what I saw, but I also believe this was a very winnable contest for Procopio. Maybe she’ll find better success if she drops to flyweight….
Americans and Brazilians: I could say those foreign to China in general, but given the general dominance most perceive the USA and Brazil to have over the sport, it feels most appropriate to highlight their poor 1-6 record combined in contests where they weren’t facing fellow countrymen. It’s likely their poor performance will make it more unlikely fighters are willing to fight in the Far East. It is a long way to travel after all….
Neither
Mark De La Rosa: Even though De La Rosa clearly lost to Kara-France, he’s developed into a better fighter than I ever thought he would be. His boxing was solid and he had a great strategy that just didn’t prove to be enough due to De La Rosa’s limited athleticism. De La Rosa appears to be getting better with every subsequent – even if the last two contests have been losses – and I can’t crap on a guy for that. I doubt he gets cut as the UFC is short on flyweight bodies at this point, but he will need to secure a win in his next appearance.
Song Kenan: While I’m not so sure Kenan was the rightful winner, I also don’t think he’s undeserving of the victory either. And while the win adds legitimacy to Kenan’s spot on the roster – something many have questioned – there are still several holes in his game that leave me questioning just how good he can be. While I feel Kenan was the best opportunity for Krantz to pick up a win, the same might be said about Krantz for Kenan. Kenan’s win needed to secure a definitive victory. It was a victory, but it wasn’t definitive.
Khadis Ibragimov: I can’t crap on Ibragimov given the circumstances of his loss. Taking the fight only about five or six days before the event, Ibragimov decided the long game wasn’t going to work on such short notice. So he went for it, unloading a series of hooks in the opening moments of his fight with Jung. It didn’t work – largely because Ibragimov seemed to forget he was allowed to attack the body – but damn it if he didn’t get my respect. I know there are many who will disagree with my assessment, but I think he took the right approach given the circumstances.
Danaa Batgerel: I was going to put Batgerel in the loser’s column, but how could I do that after he took home an extra $50K? Batgerel was far more active on the feet than Alateng, but he also didn’t have much oomph in his strikes. I don’t want to crap too much on him as I did find some enjoyment in his contest when I was afraid I might not, but I highly doubt he’ll ever have a better opportunity to pick up a win in the Octagon than he had here and part of being a winner is capitalizing on opportunities. Batgerel didn’t do that.