UFC in China on the rise, with the most MMA fighters in Asia and a world champion in Zhang Weili
- Of the 23 fighters from Asia competing in UFC events today, 10 are from China, and the country could eclipse the US as the sport’s No 1 market
- Former Hong Kong Olympic swimmer Matthew Kwok hopes to promote MMA in China with his Legend Fighting Championship
From the vast grasslands of China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region to the confined, sweaty space of a mixed martial arts arena, fighter Heili Alateng has come a long way.
Alateng’s mixed martial arts (MMA) career began in Beijing in 2013. “I came from the Xilinguole grasslands,” he says. “Wrestling, riding and archery are the three competitive sports in the annual Naadam, a traditional festival in Mongolia. My dad was a wrestler who took part in it.”
Alateng took wrestling lessons in school and joined a team in Beijing after being spotted by a talent scout. It was in the capital that he began to watch MMA fights, and fell in love with the sport.
“I then left the wrestling team and joined an MMA gym in Beijing to practise. The UFC discovered me in 2017,” he says.
Alateng, nicknamed “the Mongolian Knight”, is one of a growing number of Chinese fighters to have burst onto the international MMA scene in the past few years.