The UFC’s return to China was certainly another success for the company. The evening culminated with a clash for the UFC’s Women’s Strawweight championship. Many fighters took a step up in their careers, and cemented themselves as real threats going forward. This article is a breakdown of what’s next for the winning and losing fighters. As well as a recap of this morning’s action along with detailed analysis on what is next for each fighter.

Losing Fighters:
Lara Procopio: Talita Bernardo or Sarah Moras
What an amazing fight to open up the evening! These two ladies went to war, and Procopio just came up short. These two traded shots on the feet from the opening bell to the finish. Both landed many significant strikes as they just kept going back and forth with attacks. Procopio struggled with her defense and ate many shots. However, she showed improved striking, and was able to wobble Rosa on several occasions. She attempted to take the fight to the mat, but was never really close to any successful attempt. This is a sure fire contender for fight of the night, and these ladies opened the show with a bang.

Batgerel Danaa: Brandon Davis or Jim Soo Sin
Danaa showed high level striking in this Bantamweight contest. He used elite footwork to dart in and out with attacks. He landed several solid combinations throughout the fight, but didn’t land the with the same affect as Alateng. Danaa was the busier man, and clearly landed more strikes. However, his face was badly damaged from some big shots from Alateng, and the Chinese native was able to steal the fight from Batgerel with a late takedown attempt in the third round which secured the decisive round. This was a very exciting fight, and both fighters put on a heck of a performance.

Thiago Moises: Dan Moret or Roosevelt Roberts
Moises was simply outclassed by the better man during this fight. Moises has one heck of chin because he took some heavy shots from Ismagulov. Moises had trouble dealing with the speed, power, and head movement of Damir. He found himself getting peppered with shots over and over being unable to get one back. He briefly hurt Ismagulov with a right hand, but the Russian wore it well. Moises was unable to take the fight to the mat, and just honestly just managed to survive against the better man.

Khadis Ibragimov: Darko Stosic or Mike Rodriguez
Khadis came out like a raging bull throwing all of his might into every shot. He nearly finished Jung on two occasions throwing what seemed like a hundred hooks looking to knock him out. Ibragimov was fishing for the finish, and this ended up being his undoing. When he wasn’t able to land the finishing blows he punched himself out leaving him visibly exhausted. Ibragimov’s pace and technical striking went out the window as he desperately shot for takedowns. He survived round two, but left his neck exposed in round three on a takedown, and was forced to tap out from a guillotine.

Andre Soukhamthath: Released by the UFC or Domingo Pilarte
Andre was simply overwhelmed by a younger, and better prepared opponent in Mudaerji. Andre was lit up on the feet, and had real problems with the speed and footwork of Su. To make matters worse, Soukhamthath broke his hand early in the fight not allowing him to fight at full strength. This injury doesn’t really matter because Andre was thoroughly dominated on the feet and ground by his adversary. Andre managed to survive the entire fight, but was never even close to to finishing the young Chinese product.

Jun Yong Park: Trevin Giles or Wellington Turman
Park showed tonight that he is a solid striker, and has some real boxing skills. However, he didn’t seem to have an answer for the wrestling of Hernandez, and found himself stuck in those positions. After landing clean shots early in the fight Hernandez flipped the script, and Park was not ready for this change. He found himself on the bottom, and was caught in a anaconda choke in a transition in the second round. Despite the finish, Park showed he has some skills, and should get another crack in the UFC.

Wu Yanan: Shana Dobson or Sabina Mazo
Yanan was too comfortable backing up in this fight, and it cost her the decision. She landed more total and significant strikes but was constantly on the back foot. She attempted several takedowns, but was unable to secure any of these attempts. If she had forced Mizuki to back up more I feel she could have swayed the judges. She landed some good counter shots, and set her kicks up nicely. However, this was a case where she was too complacent in backing up instead of standing her ground.

Derrick Krantz: Kyle Stewart or Keita Nakamura
Krantz did some solid work early in round one landing some solid counter power shots. He turned to his wrestling in round two and was able to control Song on the ground. These takedowns may have been his undoing as he was extremely tired going into round three. He wasn’t able to secure top position in round three, and found himself eating some heavy shots early in the round. This was a close fight, but the stats gave the edge to Krantz. It will be interesting to see if Krantz gets another crack in the UFC.

Mark de la Rosa: Raulian Paiva or Jordan Espinosa
de la Rosa tried to make this a wrestling match early, but was unsuccessful and ended up bailing on that approach. Mark looked good on the feet, and his hand specifically were very fast landing several solid shots. You can tell his striking has come a long way in this fight, but he still struggled to defend the leg kicks of Kara-France. He was dropped in the second round, and was clearly hurt to the body in round three. This was a very entertaining bout, and de la Rosa put a hell of an effort together. However, he came up just short, but showed he has diversified his game to become a more complete fighter.

Elizeu dos Santos: Gilbert Burns or Geoff Neal
The Brazilian just seemed to be off from the opening bell. He was very patient in the early going which is quite strange. dos Santos was trying to counter strike, but this was a bad strategy as Jingliang kept catching him flat footed. He was dropped in the first round, beaten in the second round, and eventually put away with strikes in the third round. dos Santos tried a few times for takedowns, but never was close to securing top position. Elizeu just happened to run into Jingliang at the wrong time as this was the best the Chinese fighter has ever looked. It will be interesting to see how dos Santos bounces back from his first loss since 2015.

Jessica Andrade: Nina Ansaroff or Joanna Jedrzejczyk/Michelle Waterson winner
The former champion made a clear mistake by underestimating the power of Zhang. She walked forward with reckless abandon, and got caught with a hard right hand. Before she could ever recover she was being hit with knees, elbows, and follow up punches. It’s quite simple, Andrade got caught, and never was able to recover after taking those shots. She is one of the best in the world, and will be back for sure. However, she will now have to work her way back to title contention.

Winning Fighters:
Karol Cavedo: Julia Avila or Bea Malecki
Cavedo showed a lot of heart in this fight taking Procopio’s absolute best, and continuing to fire back. Cavedo did a nice job of landing clean head shots, and mixing in some hard leg kicks as well. Her best weapons on the night were the jab and right hand counter. She did well defending takedowns, and landed the more significant shots throughout the fight. She may have stole the fight with a late knockdown in the third round to secure the decision. This was an incredible debut for both of these ladies, and they have put themselves on UFC fans radar right out of the gate.

Heili Alateng: Kyung Ho Kang or Geraldo de Freitas
Alateng was clearly outmatched in terms of output on the feet, but he landed the more powerful shots. He landed several hard right hands that busted up the face of Danaa, and wobbled him on a couple of occassions. Alateng was patience on the feet, and was able to capitalize when he needed to. He pretty much sealed the deal with a takedown in round three, and landed some solid ground and pound. I personally had the fight for Danaa, but I can certainly see why the judges gave it to Alateng. This was yet another fun fight on a card from China that delivered awesome fights.

Damir Ismagulov: Nasrat Haqparast or Jim Miller
Damir put on a clinic against the very talented Brazilian prospect in Moises. He was super technical on the feet, and set a frantic striking pace throughout the contest. He landed everything he threw whether it was the hands, kicks, knees, the only thing missing was the kitchen sink. I was impressed with the speed of Ismagulov’s striking as he continuously landed shots without being countered. He didn’t discriminate in his target areas as he attacked the head, body, and legs with great efficiency. Ismagulov also showed solid takedown defense not allowing the BJJ black belt to take him down. This was a picture perfect performance for Damir, and he has the skill set to be a future contender down the road.

Da Un Jung: Kennedy Nzechukwu or Klidson Abreu
Jung showed a lot of poise in the first round after Khadis attacked him with heavy shots from the get go. He managed to survive this onslaught, and countered the aggressive opponent with technical striking. As the fight progressed, Jung started to wear out the exhausted Ibragimov with clean boxing. Using a solid job and a fast right hand to bloody the tired Russian. Jung used his cardio to his advantage pressuring Khadis in the later rounds, and forcing him to shoot for desperate takedowns. Jung made him pay for lazy head positioning against the fence by locking up a modified guillotine forcing a tap. This was a solid comeback performance for the South Korean in his UFC debut. He allowed Khadis to punch himself out, and capitalized on this mistake.

Su Mudaerji: Chris Gutierrez or Ray Borg
What a perfect performance for Mudaerji in front of his home crowd. Su dominated on the feet using his speed and elite footwork to lead the dance. He darted in and out landing every shot he threw. Mudaerji used kicks from a distance, and landed his piston like left hand with ease. The story of this fight was for sure the footwork of Su, as Andre wasn’t able to land any clean shots. Mudaerji also showed solid ground and pound at the end of the fight after Soukhamthath was reaching for submissions. This was a breakout performance against a battle tested opponent. By far the best outing we have ever seen out of Mudaerji. He thoroughly dominated from the opening bell, and never found himself in a bad position.

Anthony Hernandez: Oskar Piechota or Rodolfo Vieira
Hernandez struggled with the boxing of Park early in the fight. He was hurt on multiple occasions, and found himself turning to his wrestling game. This ended up being the smart choice as he clearly had the advantage there. He wavered the storm of Park’s striking, and used the wrestling to ground the striker. Eventually in the second round he landed a big takedown followed by ground and pound to soften Park up. He transitioned to a anaconda choke at the end of round two that forced the tap. This was a solid bounce back performance for Hernandez especially after being hurt early in the fight.

Mizuki Inoue: Hannah Cifers or Livia Souza
Inoue did a solid job of making up for the size difference by using aggression. She pushed forward the entire fight, and had Yanan on the back foot. She landed some solid combinations on the inside, and showed clean boxing from the outside as well. She didn’t land any power shots, but was pushing the action more than Yanan. This was an impressive performance on short notice in a weight class above her natural weight.

Kenan Song: Erik Koch or Diego Sanchez
Song was the better man on the feet landing some hard shots with his boxing. He mixed in the kicks as well, but seemed to lean heavily towards his boxing. He had issues in the second round with Krantz’s wrestling, but was able to survive and land his best shots in round three. At the end of round three both fighters were visibly exhausted, but Song had done enough in round three in the eyes of the judges to steal the fight. Song has good stand up, but needs to improve his cardio and wrestling defense in order to move forward in the division.

Kai Kara-France: Rogerio Bontorin or Matt Schnell
France as usual put together a impressive display on the feet. Kara-France landed many leg kicks that clearly hurt de la Rosa. He dropped him with his patented right hand in the second round, and showed his handy work throughout the fight. He did well defending takedowns, and just seemed to land the more powerful shots. He hurt de la Rosa to the body as well in the third round. Kara-France is super technical on the feet, and just seemed to be a slight step ahead of de la Rosa. This was a really close, fun fight between two of the best at 125 pounds.

Li Jingliang: Robbie Lawler or Anthony Pettis
What a win for the underdog in his home country! Jingliang showed crisp boxing from the opening bell, and actually dropped dos Santos in round one. He continued his good work to round two landing the crisper shots, and forcing dos Santos to be over aggressive. I was very impressed with Jingliang’s footwoork as it seemed dos Santos couldn’t land any clean shots. Jingliang put a stamp on his performance catching dos Santos in an exchange with an uppercut, and then finishing the job with some follow up hooks. This was a perfect performance against one of the most underrated guys in the Welterweight division. Jingliang has improved so much in his UFC career, and will now have a place in the Welterweight rankings.

Weili Zhang: Rose Namajunas or Tatiana Suarez
WOW!!!!! What a glorious moment for Chinese MMA as they finally have a UFC champion. Zhang wasted no time landing several early leg kicks, and then caught the now former champion with a hard right hand. She landed some vicious elbows and knees that badly hurt Andrade. She then followed with a flurry of punches that dropped Andrade for the last time, and the referee had no other choice but to step in. Zhang screams with joy to the great applause of the Chinese crowd. This is quite the achievement, and clearly a historic moment in MMA. The only other UFC champion with Asian decent is Lyoto Machida (Half Japanese) so this is quite the moment for Zhang. Congrats to Zhang winning the belt, and we will have to wait and see what the future holds.

Photo Credit: https://smashingtip.com/mma/ufc/jessica-andrade-vs-weili-zhang-31-08-2019-preview/