The UFC’s first TUF season in China is over. Zhang Lipeng defeated Wang Sai to become the first-ever Chinese Ultimate Fighter winner.
But I’m sure most of you don’t really care too much about that. After all, TUF china was a show with a recruitment policy so lax that an 0-0 yoga instructor somehow made it into the cast.
Despite the questionable levels of talent present, there were a few important fights on the card—relevant matches and interesting clashes of styles. Which fights were those? We’re gonna recap them for you.
(Photo via Getty)
The UFC’s first TUF season in China is over. Zhang Lipeng defeated Wang Sai to become the first-ever Chinese Ultimate Fighter winner.
But I’m sure most of you don’t really care too much about that. After all, TUF china was a show with a recruitment policy so lax that an 0-0 yoga instructor somehow made it into the cast.
Despite the questionable levels of talent present, there were a few important fights on the card—relevant matches and interesting clashes of styles. Which fights were those? We’re gonna recap them for you.
Vaughan Lee decisioned Nam Phan. It was a fight in which Lee never lost control. His striking was too accurate and too quick for Phan to counter. Lee was able to shrug off Phan’s takedown attempts as well.
Kazuki Tokudome was on the wrong side of a split decision against Yui Chul Nam in what was a barn-burner. Nam nearly finished Tokudome in the first round, but punched himself out. This enabled a stunning comeback from Tokudome in the second round, where he returned the favor and nearly finished Nam. The match was decided in the third round, where Nam wobbled Tokudome with a right hand and landed two takedowns.
Hatsu Hioki vs. Ivan Menjivar kicked off the four-fight main card. This fight was pretty straightforward. Hioki was the superior grappler, and he let Menjivar know it throughout the first two rounds, taking him down and working for a variety of submissions. Menjivar had a glimmer of hope in the third round when he landed a right hand that had Hioki hurt, but Menjivar couldn’t capitalize on it. Hioki took home a unanimous decision win for his efforts.
The heavyweights came in for the next fight. Matt Mitrione and Shawn Jordan met in the center of the cage and threw leather. Mitrione managed to throw a bit more, however, and ultimately knocked out Jordan at the 4:59 mark of the first round. Here’s the GIF (via @ZProphet_MMA).
The co-main event featured TUF: China welterweight finalists Zhang Lipeng and Wang Sai. In a closely contested fight, Lipeng managed to edge past Sai by less than a hair’s width.
The night’s main event (or morning’s main event since the card began at around 6:30 am EST) was worth the price of UFC Fight Pass admission. John Hathaway and Dong Hyun Kim put on a show. Kim decided to abandon his grappling in favor of brawling. Hathaway was happy to oblige, which for him was a poor decision—a gorgeous spinning back elbow from Kim left him staring at the ceiling. Kim won the fight via KO at 1:02 of round 3. Check out the GIF (again via @ZProphet_MMA).
Here are the complete results:
Main Card
Dong Hyun Kim def. John Hathaway via knockout (elbow) – Round 3, 1:02
Zhang Lipeng def. Wang Sai via split decision (29-28, 27-30, 29-28)
Matt Mitrione def. Shawn Jordan via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 4:59
Hatsu Hioki def. Ivan Menjivar via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Preliminary Card
Yui Chul Nam def. Kazuki Tokudome via split decision (29-27, 27-28, 29-28)
Vaughan Lee def. Nam Phan via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
Anying Wang def. Albert Cheng via TKO (doctor’s stoppage) – Round 1, 5:00
Mark Eddiva def. Jumabieke Tuerxun via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
(2014: The year that Dana White buys this dog. For Bjorn Rebney. Too soon?)
When former CagePotato.com contributor Jason Moles announced his retirement in 2013, it appeared that there wouldn’t be a “Crazy Enough to be True” predictions column for 2014. Rather than let the opportunity to make outlandish assumptions about the state of our favorite sport pass us up, we’ve decided to offer our wildest ideas in the form of a CagePotato Roundtable. Read on for our picks, share yours in the comments section, and please continue to send your ideas for future CagePotato Roundtable topics to[email protected].
The problem is, none of these upcoming markets have the talent pool available to produce a world champion in the foreseeable future. Or a top contender. Or a fighter who could credibly compete anywhere on a pay-per-view main card. That’s why I’m predicting that 2014 will see the unveiling of individual UFC titles for countries/continents. I mean, Vitor Belfort is already the middleweight champion of Brazil, right? They might as well give him a belt and make it official.
(2014: The year that Dana White buys this dog. For Bjorn Rebney. Too soon?)
When former CagePotato.com contributor Jason Moles announced his retirement in 2013, it appeared that there wouldn’t be a “Crazy Enough to be True” predictions column for 2014. Rather than let the opportunity to make outlandish assumptions about the state of our favorite sport pass us up, we’ve decided to offer our wildest ideas in the form of a CagePotato Roundtable. Read on for our picks, share yours in the comments section, and please continue to send your ideas for future CagePotato Roundtable topics to[email protected].
The problem is, none of these upcoming markets have the talent pool available to produce a world champion in the foreseeable future. Or a top contender. Or a fighter who could credibly compete anywhere on a pay-per-view main card. That’s why I’m predicting that 2014 will see the unveiling of individual UFC titles for countries/continents. I mean, Vitor Belfort is already the middleweight champion of Brazil, right? They might as well give him a belt and make it official.
Case in point: TUF Chinadebuted last month. Coached by a UFC near-washout and a guy you’ve never heard of, the season will produce a completely irrelevant winner, who’s only fit to beat up other irrelevant curtain-jerkers from countries that aren’t the U.S., Brazil, Canada, or England. While the novelty of seeing native Chinese fighters (or Turkish fighters, or Polish fighters, etc.) will get local fans tuning in, eventually the UFC will have to throw these people a bone to keep them happy, because watching your home country’s fighters get smashed as soon as they face legitimate competition isn’t fun.
And so, the UFC will do the smart thing and have these guys/gals fight exclusively within their own borders for secondary titles. And maybe, if one of these regional champs goes on a long win streak, he/she will be called up to the prelims of a UFC on FOX Sports 1 card, where you might actually get to see them compete. Until then, us North Americans will only be able to watch the UFC’s new regional superstars on that digital subscription service thingy they’re selling, and if you think we’re coughing up any more money to the UFC for that bullshit, you are out of your got-damn mind.
It is well known that UFC President Dana White is a loose cannon when he is in front of a camera or a microphone. The “Baldfather” has no filter and basically shoots from the hip no matter the topic, the fighter, or the reporter in his crosshairs. He has taken some heat for profanity-laced rants in the past, but there has never been any real punishment from the Fertitta brothers (at least not publicly).
After Georges St. Pierre’s somewhat cryptic and confusing comments with Joe Rogan following his UFC 167 victory, Dana White launched into a diatribe at the post-fight press conference saying that GSP owed the UFC something more. Fast forward a day or two and Lorenzo Fertitta backtracked on White’s words by basically apologizing (even though he never actually said “Sorry”). In the past, Fertitta has never come to cover White but after the amount of flack being thrown because of White’s comments, it was evident that some things needed to be clarified.
Though White’s obscenity-filled tirades have been far and few between as of late, it is only a matter of time before Mount Dana erupts. When he does — because of falling ratings, a network deal that has not produced as expected or a slew of other factors — I believe that the Fertittas will in fact publicly chastise White. Whether it is a fine or a suspension or just a good old fashioned public tongue lashing, White will finally be the one on the other end of a heated lecture (and he will have earned it after the years of insensitive comments he has made).
Between 2010 and 2011, Matt Brown went 1-4 in the octagon, with all of those losses coming via second round submission. Although not one member of the MMA media dared say it to his face, they had all but written him off as just another slightly above-average TUF alum who couldn’t hack it in the big leagues. “Get out of here!”they’d shout once he had turned his back, “Why can’t you just go back to where you came from?
I don’t know if Brown wished upon a shooting star or sold his soul to the SKOAL Gods in return for Jax fists, but something amazing happened when he reemerged in 2012. Something…supernatural. Come to think of it, it was probably voodoo.
In the past two years, Matt Brown has gone 6-0 in the octagon with 5 TKOs. Five. Brown has fought like a man possessed (by voodoo), scoring wins over young guns (Jordan Mein), crafty veterans (Mike Swick), and previously undefeated hype machines (Stephen Thompson) alike. His last performance against Mike Pyle was, by definition, a flawless victory. Of all the career comebacks we witnessed in 2013, Brown’s was far-and-away the most impressive, if only because of the utter mediocrity that preceded it. In fact, of the nominees we listed in our “Most Unexpected Career Comebacks” roundtable last March, only Brown and Cub Swanson have managed to remain undefeated to this day. No, GSP *doesn’t* count, because he was defeated by both Johny Hendricks and old age.
What is the point of all this hyperbolic, redundant, and mostly fabricated backstory? Only that Brown has entered the prime of his career and is destroying whoever is placed before him with a combination of Zen-like tranquility and Pedro Lopez-like brutality. The dude is untouchable, “Immortal” you might even say (*crickets*). Like Bernie in Weekend at Bernie’s 2 when conga music is playing (which again, voodoo). And now that GSP has decided to step away from the sport, the UFC’s welterweight division has transformed from a grappler’s purgatory into a brawler’s paradise. Lawler vs. Hendricks will most likely be a slugfest for the ages, and when title fights are suddenly being decided by who can stand and trade leather the longest, Brown is as good a candidate as any to get that gold.
Believe it or not, things are actually much worse for TNA Impact! Wrestling than they were merely two months ago when I first wrote about their sad state of affairs. As in, “holding shows in high school gymnasiums” worse. I firmly believe that 2014 will be the year that this company finally kicks the bucket, to the apathy of nearly every wrestling fan on the planet. And the wrestlers proudly featured in the company’s final pay-per-view main event when this happens? Don’t hold your breath waiting for one of them to be AJ Styles. Same goes with Jeff Jarrett. Ditto Samoa Joe, Christopher Daniels, Abyss, and anyone else whose name was once synonymous with the company.
No, Rampage Jackson and Tito Ortiz will be the ones headlining TNA Impact! Wrestling’s final pay-per-view.
Yeah, I know how everyone this side of Parts Unknown rolled their eyes at Rampage and Tito’s appearances in TNA last year, but the company is losing so much money and has so few wrestlers left that I think Viacom sends these two once-strong pay-per-view draws back to TNA Impact! Wrestling as a last-ditch effort to find people willing to buy a TNA pay-per-view. Sure, even the most brain-dead among us *looks directly at Jared…who is holding up a mirror. Well played.* can see the holes in this logic, but desperate times call for desperate measures; this is especially true when you consider that Viacom brought in Rampage and Tito to headline a pay-per-view in the first place. This will obviously end badly — even for a company that considers 50,000 buys a smashing success — leading TNA Impact! to close its doors shortly afterwards.
Sure, the idea of Rampage Jackson and Tito Ortiz headlining the final TNA Impact! Wrestling pay-per-view is completely ludicrous, but if you expect anything different from Dixie Carter, you’ve clearly never actually watched one of her company’s shows. Oh how I envy your ignorance.
Frustrated by dwindling PPV buys, Dana White starts hinting at “big fucking changes, like, huge” coming to Fox. Speculation abounds.
Zuffa announces that it is resurrecting Strikeforce for a new weekly primetime show on FS1. In a stunning move, Scott Coker returns to captain the ship, and “Wednesday Night Strikeforce” is born. His decision to include occasional kickboxing bouts in the broadcasts is hailed as visionary, as “WNS” quickly outstrips viewership numbers from the TUF lead-in. Meanwhile, UFC PPV cards are cut back to eight per year, and buy rates promptly skyrocket.
Coker leads the fight for better pay of fighters, proposing a tiered salary system that guarantees a minimum $48K to fighters under the Strikeforce banner. He suggests a format change to the now-ubiquitous Ultimate Fighter program, which now sports no less than eight spinoffs across the world. His idea, a weekly interview and highlight show recounting the various incarnations of TUF worldwide, is embraced by the blogosphere, but roundly rejected by White, as is the salary gambit.
Tensions between Coker and White continue to mount for the remainder of 2014. In December, Dana White and Scott Coker both start hinting at “big fucking changes, like, huge” coming to Zuffa. Speculation abounds.
Have your own “crazy enough to be true” predictions for 2014? You know what to do.
Since notching four TKOs (and five straight wins) in his first five UFC appearances, Matt “Meathead” Mitrione has hit a rut, to put it lightly. The TUF 10 alum and former professional football player has dropped three of his past four fights and was most recently choked out by friend and fellow TUF 10 alum Brendan Schaub at UFC 165. Cyborg Abreu was not impressed by this. Although Mitrione does meet the UFC’s ever-growing need for fighters who are more entertaining than consistent (a.k.a “The Voelker Amendment“), one could argue that he may be out of a job should he fail to get past his next test in Shawn Jordan.
The matchup, which was announced by the UFC’s Mark Fischer via Twitter over the weekend, will transpire at the TUF: China Finale on March 1st: LIVE ON FIGHT PASS!!
Since notching four TKOs (and five straight wins) in his first five UFC appearances, Matt “Meathead” Mitrione has hit a rut, to put it lightly. The TUF 10 alum and former professional football player has dropped three of his past four fights and was most recently choked out by friend and fellow TUF 10 alum Brendan Schaub at UFC 165. Cyborg Abreu was not impressed by this. Although Mitrione does meet the UFC’s ever-growing need for fighters who are more entertaining than consistent (a.k.a “The Voelker Amendment“), one could argue that he may be out of a job should he fail to get past his next test in Shawn Jordan.
The matchup, which was announced by the UFC’s Mark Fischer via Twitter over the weekend, will transpire at the TUF: China Finale on March 1st: LIVE ON FIGHT PASS!!
Load up your favorite Scanners gif, Nation, because word has it that the 0-0 yogi known as Li Jin Ying was booted from (well, quit) TUF:China before ever getting the chance to actually fight. Which makes sense, being that he didn’t know how to fight in the first place.
According to the TUF: China Wikipedia page and several totally credible message boards I read on the toilet this morning (journalism FTW!!), it turns out that Cung Le was so unimpressed by Li’s skills (or lack thereof) that he challenged the spiritual instructor to last two 3-minute rounds against one of his assistant coaches. After being thoroughly dominated, Li allegedly left the show, quit MMA forever, and cried. For the dream he had been chasing for almost three weeks now, was dead. (*burns effigy*)
Cung Le, however, would like to inform you that the TUF producers, not the UFC, are probably to blame for allowing Li onto the show in the first place. But at least he probably inspired legions of Chinese MMA fans with his bravery, right guys? GUYS?!! Ahhhh fuck it. You know what to do, Jimmy…
(Kim’s Knockout of the Night-winning comeback KO of Erick Silva at UFC Fight Night 29 in October. / Video via FoxSports)
Coming off three consecutive victories against Paulo Thiago, Siyar Bahadurzada, and Erick Silva, South Korean welterweight Dong Hyun Kim is one of the most successful Asian fighters currently competing in the UFC. Naturally, the UFC has booked him to headline the TUF China Finale, which goes down March 1st at the CotaiArena in Macau. Kim will face British vet John Hathaway, who is riding his own three-fight win streak, although against somewhat weaker competition. Plus, Hathaway was inactive for all of 2013 due to ulcerative colitis, so yeah, this kind of feels like a squash match. The fight will be scheduled for five rounds; neither Kim nor Hathaway has ever competed in a five-rounder before.
Meanwhile, on the other end of the contender spectrum, TopMMANews is reporting that Hatsu Hioki and Ivan Menjivar will face off in a featherweight bout at the TUF China Finale that could end with the loser getting the axe. Once considered to be one of the greatest featherweights in the world, Hioki has struggled to find his footing in the UFC, and has lost three consecutive decisions to Ricardo Lamas, Clay Guida, and Darren Elkins. As for Menjivar, the “Pride of El Salvador” went 0-2 in 2013, dropping fights against Urijah Faber and Wilson Reis.
(Kim’s Knockout of the Night-winning comeback KO of Erick Silva at UFC Fight Night 29 in October. / Video via FoxSports)
Coming off three consecutive victories against Paulo Thiago, Siyar Bahadurzada, and Erick Silva, South Korean welterweight Dong Hyun Kim is one of the most successful Asian fighters currently competing in the UFC. Naturally, the UFC has booked him to headline the TUF China Finale, which goes down March 1st at the CotaiArena in Macau. Kim will face British vet John Hathaway, who is riding his own three-fight win streak, although against somewhat weaker competition. Plus, Hathaway was inactive for all of 2013 due to ulcerative colitis, so yeah, this kind of feels like a squash match. The fight will be scheduled for five rounds; neither Kim nor Hathaway has ever competed in a five-rounder before.
Meanwhile, on the other end of the contender spectrum, TopMMANews is reporting that Hatsu Hioki and Ivan Menjivar will face off in a featherweight bout at the TUF China Finale that could end with the loser getting the axe. Once considered to be one of the greatest featherweights in the world, Hioki has struggled to find his footing in the UFC, and has lost three consecutive decisions to Ricardo Lamas, Clay Guida, and Darren Elkins. As for Menjivar, the “Pride of El Salvador” went 0-2 in 2013, dropping fights against Urijah Faber and Wilson Reis.
(The soon-to-be-forgotten and/or fired TUF China cast. Photo via the Global Times.)
That The Ultimate Fighter: China features the powerhouse *coaching* duo of Tiequan Zhang (currently riding a 3-fight losing streak with his sole UFC win coming over Jason Reinhardt) and Hailin Ao (retired) should say more about the talent level of its contestants than we ever could, but you guys have got to read this.
The premiere episode of TUF: China transpired last Saturday. While most of us here in the states failed to take notice of this, f4wonline‘s Mark Harris recently published a recap of the episode and offered some insight. You should check out the entire summary here, but the following paragraphs truly emphasize how fucked this season is going to be (emphasis mine):
The fighters on this season are a mixed bag of promising talent and hapless newbies…The quirkiest character this season is Li Jin Ying (0-0, welterweight), who admitted tohaving no MMA experiencebefore sparring in front of the cameras. His appearance on the show is so bizarre I have to wonder if he’s only on to illustrate to viewers the level of training and experience that’s needed to succeed in MMA.
Li is a spiritualist yoga instructor “eager to be Asia’s biggest MMA star”. Yes, a yoga instructor. He has a photogenic face, the kind of face UFC would probably want to put on advertisements in China, but he apparently has no MMA experience and describes himself as shy.
I never dreamed that there would come a day when TUF and American Idol adopted the same criteria for selecting contestants. I was wrong.
(The soon-to-be-forgotten and/or fired TUF China cast. Photo via the Global Times.)
That The Ultimate Fighter: China features the powerhouse *coaching* duo of Tiequan Zhang (currently riding a 3-fight losing streak with his sole UFC win coming over Jason Reinhardt) and Hailin Ao (retired) should say more about the talent level of its contestants than we ever could, but you guys have got to read this.
The premiere episode of TUF: China transpired last Saturday. While most of us here in the states failed to take notice of this, f4wonline‘s Mark Harris recently published a recap of the episode and offered some insight. You should check out the entire summary here, but the following paragraphs truly emphasize how fucked this season is going to be (emphasis mine):
The fighters on this season are a mixed bag of promising talent and hapless newbies…The quirkiest character this season is Li Jin Ying (0-0, welterweight), who admitted tohaving no MMA experiencebefore sparring in front of the cameras. His appearance on the show is so bizarre I have to wonder if he’s only on to illustrate to viewers the level of training and experience that’s needed to succeed in MMA.
Li is a spiritualist yoga instructor “eager to be Asia’s biggest MMA star”. Yes, a yoga instructor. He has a photogenic face, the kind of face UFC would probably want to put on advertisements in China, but he apparently has no MMA experience and describes himself as shy.
I never dreamed that there would come a day when TUF and American Idol adopted the same criteria for selecting contestants. I was wrong. “Oh, Li’s never fought before, but he’s cute *and* shy!! QUICK, TELL STACY AND MINDY TO TEXT IN THEIR VOTES FOR LI OR WE’LL DE-FRIEND THEM ON FACEBOOK!”
Here’s an idea: If the talent level of the region you are trying to promote your television show in is so depleted that you have to start bringing in “fighters” who have never fought before, maybe focus on another area. Better yet, maybe just hold off on the goddamn reality show altogether and focus on finding higher quality fighters for the original incarnation of the show here in America. Aside from the finalists, not one of TUF 18′s male contestants were given a second shot in the UFC. Not one. Yet they think a 0-0 yoga instructor stands a chance of competing in the world’s premier MMA organization with a couple month’s sprawl training under the tutelage of a guy who would have already been fired if not for the the promotion’s racially transparent marketing gimmicks?
Is anyone aware that you can be seriously injured or killed in this sport? Or that throwing a “hapless newbie” into the lion’s den because he meets the correct ethnic standards is, you know, sadistic and insane?! Is it too much to ask that “has sparred before” should be included on the checklist of potential TUF contestants?!! WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK IS HAPPENING TO YOU, UFC?!!!!!
I originally thought comparing the UFC to the Super Fight League was a bit harsh on the former, but now it’s become clear that the comparison is only insulting to the latter. Say what you want about the SFL, but at least their fighters have hit pads before.
