Chinese WMMA Was The Real Winner at UFC Beijing

Chinese WMMA Was The Real Winner at UFC Beijing

By Calum Christie 

It was a big week for Chinese MMA with the Ultimate Fighting Championship not only coming to Beijing for their first ever event which was headlined by Curtis ‘Razor’ Blaydes (10-2) and Francis ‘The Predator’ Ngannou (12-3) but also making the headlines was the announcement of the development of a 93,000 square foot Performance Institute which will be constructed in May, 2019 and will be located in China’s biggest city, Shanghai. All this exciting news overshadowed the fantastic performances by the three Chinese female fighters on the undercard.

On the preliminary card there was 3 Woman’s mixed martial artists competing who all hailed from China that ran out victorious: Yanan Wu (9-2), Weili Zhang (18-1) and also Xionan Yan (10-1). Not only did they get the win but they all looked very impressive in doing so against tough opponents.

Xionan Yan (10-1) was the first woman’s fight on the card where she faced Japanese pro wrestling superstar Syuri Kondo (6-2). Xionan got a very comfortable victory where she showed great forward pressure and aggressive striking to go 3-0 inside the UFC octagon. She also has a big win on her record against the talented prospect Viviane Pereira who came to the UFC with a lot of hype surrounding her. With Yan now having 3 victories in a row under the UFC banner it would be great to see her getting an opportunity out with an Asian card and against a recognisable name to build up her stock to the mass market of martial arts fans.

Then step forward Weili Zhang (18-1) who had arguably the most eye catching performance against a pioneer in woman’s mixed martial arts in the form of Jessica ‘Jag’ Aguilar.

Aguilar (20-7) joined the UFC as the WSOF strawweight champion and carried a weight of expectation on her shoulders to be successful inside the UFC octagon. Zhang came into this bout with an 88% finish rate which is unheard of in WMMA and although Jessica’s performances have been very inconsistent she would still provide a stiff test for Zhang.

But it was a spectacular performance by Weili Zhang who really showed the fans her jiu-Jitsu skills as she had a lovely transition from an arm triangle to an arm bar to secure the victory and extend her unbeaten streak to 18 fights. Weili is now 2-0 inside the octagon and could easily be in with a shout of facing a top 15 opponent in her next outing. Again along with Xionan I’d love to see her gain more exposure outside of Asia and really test herself.

Finally Yanan Wu (9-2) faced the DWTNC series contract winner Lauren ‘Princess Tiger’ Mueller (5-1) who was undefeated heading into this 115lb contest. Lauren Mueller is a product of the Alliance MMA gym in California where former bantamweight UFC and WEC champion Dominick Cruz (22-2) is a training partner and speaks very highly of Lauren. But It was the heavy betting underdog Yanan Wu who gave Mueller her first taste of defeat by way of an arm bar submission in the very first round. This capped of a great night for Woman’s Mixed Martial Arts where these female fighters really demonstrated the high level of female talent coming out of China.

So what does this mean for the winners moving forward? Well with the $13M Shanghai Performance institute (PI) being built in 2019 this is an ideal opportunity for these female fighters to hone and develop their talent and prepare to step up to the next level of competition within the organisation. The Shanghai PI’s unique selling point is that they will have full MMA staffing that will work directly with the fighters in terms of specific combat training, diet and recovery which should set them up for a successful career within the UFC.