UFC and China: make Conor McGregor v Li ‘The Leech’ Jingliang happen to break market
- Chinese women such as strawweight champion Zhang Weili are at elite level, but men are not holding up their end of the bargain
- Irishman has shown his willingness to promote a gimmick for money so why not take on China’s best fighter?
As we enter the Year of the Ox, women’s MMA in China could not be stronger.
Zhang Weili is strawweight champion and the world awaits who Dana White will present for her next fight – a third title defence.
Rumours have suggested that “Magnum” could return to the Octagon as soon as April with Singapore to host a card with the 31-year-old headlining.
Speculation on who she will fight is still running wild but Dana White appears to favour Rose Namajunas, despite initially cooling talk of China’s best meeting “Thug Rose”.
It is expected that any card in Singapore would feature more of the region’s fighters, with China’s Yan “Fury” Xiaonan among them.
Yan, 31, has edged herself into contention for a title shot in her next few fights and there is no doubt that an all-Chinese UFC strawweight championship fight would go down well in China.
The five fighters UFC champ Zhang Weili could face next
While the women are performing well, China’s men are not quite hitting the same heights. The women are holding up more than half of the sky when it comes to UFC.
Bantamweight Song “The Kung Fu Monkey” Yadong, who will fight against Kyler “Matrix” Phillips at UFC 259, is ranked No 14 in his division.
Su “The Tibetan Eagle” Mudaerji is ranked the same in the flyweight division.
The country’s best man is Li “The Leech” Jianliang, who is ranked No 12 in the welterweight division.
While there are great hopes of more talent emerging from the UFC Performance Centre in Shanghai, that is a long game for the promotion.
So far three graduates have been signed, one woman – “Dragon Girl” Na Liang – and two men – “Mongolian Murderer” Aori Qileng and “The Mongolian Knight” Alateng Heili – but they are ones for the future.
Zhang vs Yan fight would see UFC put China in a chokehold
In the meantime, Li’s burgeoning reputation grew further last month with a Performance of the Night win over Santiago Ponzinibbio at UFC on ABC 1.
Li, 32, needs pushed over the top though and fights against Mike Perry, who has called him out, would not do that.
So what can the UFC do in the meantime to fast forward the men to the same international interest as the women, if not the same standard?
The answer is Conor McGregor.
“Notorious” has been written off by many after his UFC 257 loss to Dustin Poirier and while reports of his demise have been greatly exaggerated there is a reason to think his priorities lie elsewhere.
Pacquiao not interested in McGregor fight after UFC 257 loss
“I think the demand for the fight is not there presently. Conor has some business to clean up and handle in the UFC,” Pacquiao representative Sean Gibbons told The Sun in the aftermath of Poirier undoing McGregor with leg kicks.
“It’s a bummer, it could have been fun for as long as it lasted and no leg kicks would have made a world of difference,” Gibbons, president of Manny Pacquiao Promotions, concluded.
We do not know what McGregor, 32, has planned next but we do know that he is willing to do anything for a pound note.
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Chinese fighter Zhang Weili ready for UFC title
That was behind the circus that became his “superfight” with Floyd Mayweather Jnr in August, 2017. Both McGregor and “Money” Mayweather were paid for that but only one of them enriched their reputation in the ring.
While it ended in a 10th round TKO for “Money”, it was McGregor who earned his money having promoted the bejesus out of the fight just as he always does.
So what does this tell us?
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White should throw McGregor the money to fight “The Leech” and do it in China. That would be a spectacle to kick-start UFC in the mainland, where money might be no object. It’s also a great opportunity to sell his Proper Twelve whiskey.
McGregor – the champ champ at lightweight and featherweight – most recently fought Poirier at lightweight, while Li is welterweight. One of them would have to move to meet, but others have.
The Irishman did it himself and went back to the weight he was for his fight against Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone in January last year.
Otherwise, Li, who has been tipped to go up to middleweight, could surely cut it.
It never hurt Khabib Nurmagomedov, who fought at welterweight in the Russian promotions before signing for UFC in 2011. No one is saying that Li is anything approaching Khabib, just that it has been done.
There are logistical issues but China’s No 1 man against the best self promoter in the fight game might be a bit of a gimmick, but it is also a no-brainer in truly breaking the Chinese market.
That is the most bullish move UFC can make to mark the Year of the Ox.
