UFC: ‘The Tibetan Eagle’ soars as Su Mudaerji announces himself as a flyweight threat

China’s Su Mudaerji lit up Las Vegas on Sunday, needing just 44 seconds to lay opponent Malcolm Gordon to waste with a series of long, straight lefts, and to announce himself as a serious threat in the UFC’s flyweight division.

“The Tibetan Eagle” had taken the drop down from bantamweight for his stateside debut on the preliminaries of the UFC Vegas 15 card and it was apparent from the first punch he threw that the southpaw’s reach and his range might offer a little more heat to a division that has already been sparked back into life in 2020.

UFC boss Dana White was impressed enough to hand the rising star a US$50,000 Performance of the Night bonus for the work that led to the first-round knockout at UFC Apex.

“I finished this fight so fast, but this was my plan,” said the Sichuan-born 24-year-old afterwards. “Today wasn’t all [I have]. I hope to fight again soon. I want to fight next month against whoever but I want a top ranking.”

The win took Su’s record to 13-4, with now nine first-round finishes and Gordon was basically picked apart from the moment they touched gloves. The Canadian (12-5) wore the first punch Su threw, and ducked and weaved but the Chinese fighter kept throwing – and landing, with six finding their mark, bang on the button, before the lights went out and Gordon tumbled to the right, and to the canvas.

Job done for Su, and the hype that had made him the tightest favourite on the card at just -360 with the bookies was proved justified.

The 44 seconds that took Su to 2-1 in the UFC made the win the equal third-fastest in the organisation’s flyweight history, tied with Freddy Serrano’s TKO of Yao Zhikui in 2015, and in behind the 15 seconds used by Dustin Ortiz to KO Hector Sandoval in 2017, and the 32 seconds Henry Cejudo used for his TKO of TJ Dillashaw last year.

“I didn’t want the fight to go to the second round,” Su told commentator Paul Felder afterwards.

No kidding.

Brazilian Deiveson Figueiredo (20-1) has over the past year helped resurrect a flyweight division that as recently as two years ago looked done and dusted in the UFC. Last week the 32-year-old defended his title in spectacular fashion, needing 1.57 of the first to submit fourth-ranked American Alex Perez (24-6). The UFC is lining Figueiredo up to return to the fray against Mexico’s number one-ranked Brandon Moreno (18-5-1) at UFC 256 on December 12 – partly to cover for bouts lost to the fates that have haunted 2020 but also to cash in on the hype the Brazilian has injected into the division.

The UFC commentary team were buzzed by the prospect of Su coming to the flyweight party and his height (5-foot-8) and reach (72 inches) are sure to provide ranked fighters with plenty to think about.

Previously, Su has shown a willingness to throw side and spin kicks into the mix but there simply wasn’t enough time on Sunday to put all his wares out on the counter.

The move down to flyweight came after Su’s debut loss at bantamweight to American Louis Smolka (16-7) via submission back at UC Fight Night 141 in Beijing in November 2018. He bounced back impressively against American Andre Soukhamthath (14-8) with a unanimous decision in Shenzhen in August last year. In the 14 months since, Su has been working on his craft, and worked on ways to keep the weight down when the need arises.

“I prepared for this fight for a very long time so I would like to thank my coaches and he [UFC’s] Performance Institute [in Shanghai],” Su told reporters following his win. “I wanted to fight standing up and I didn’t want the fight to go to the ground. I want to fight in Vegas and I want to fight someone in the top 15.”