The UFC has signed two more academy graduates out of its state-of-the-art Shanghai Performance Institute.
“Mongolian Murderer” Aori Qileng (18-6) and “Dragon Girl” Na Liang (14-4) become the second and third Chinese fighters to make the grade after “The Mongolian Knight” Alateng Heili (14-8-1).
“We’re so proud to see Aori Qileng and Na Liang graduate from our programme and wish them all the best as they continue their journey into the UFC,” said Kevin Chang, the UFC’s APAC senior vice-president.
“The hard work, sacrifice and dedication our athletes put in to improving themselves is tremendous.”
The 24-year-old bantamweight Na, of Heilongjiang province, had put together a four-fight win streak in Chinese regional promotion WLF, where she was a former flyweight champ.
Aori, 27, is a former WLF bantamweight champ and had won his last six fights – four of them by finish – in the organisation.
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“This is only the beginning and the next generation of UFC fighters from China and Asia are right behind them,” said Chang.
“There’s so much potential in this part of the world that if properly developed will reach the highest levels of the sport, which is the main reason we decided to invest in and build the UFC Performance Institute in Shanghai in 2019.”
Alateng is 2-1 in the UFC after debuting with a Fight of the Night bonus in Shenzhen in August 2019 on the undercard of UFC Fight Night 157, where strawweight queen Zhang Weili (21-1) TKO’d Jessica Andrade (21-8) in 42 seconds to become China’s first UFC champion.
Another positive for the UFC’s China contingent this week is Su Mudaerji’s breakthrough into the flyweight rankings.
The 25-year-old has put together back-to-back wins since dropping down from bantamweight, starting with an impressive 44-second knockout of Canada’s Malcolm Gordon (12-5) in November.
Su earned a US$50,000 performance bonus for that finish at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, and used the money to stay in the US and train at the Team Alpha Male gym in California under the guidance of Urijah Faber.
The UFC Hall of Famer has been developing the skills of other Chinese prospects like Song “The Kung Fu Monkey” Yadong (16-4-1, one no contest) and Yan Xiaonan (13-1, one no contest), while veteran Li “The Leech” Jingliang (18-6) also fine-tuned his preparations in Sacramento before his first-round KO of Santiago Ponzinibbio this month.
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