UFC: Dana White’s Contender Series gets Asian edition out of Shanghai performance institute
- Show will feature male and female fighters across the organisation’s 11 weight classes, and is set to launch in 2020 with UFC contracts up for grabs
- UFC president White says ‘there’s no area in the world right now with more potential MMA talent than Asia’
The UFC has announced plans for the first Asian edition of the Dana White’s Contender Series as the company continues to spread its reach into the region.
“One of my favourite parts of my job is looking for up-and-coming talent,” the UFC boss said in a statement released on Thursday.
“There’s no area in the world right now with more potential MMA talent than Asia. We’re going to use Dana White’s Contender Series to find these fighters, develop them, and give them the opportunity to perform on the biggest stage in combat sports.”
Set for a launch in 2020, the series will showcase “up-and-coming talent, as well as athletes striving to revive their professional careers,” according to the UFC.
According to the UFC, the new series will feature male and female fighters across the organisation’s 11 weight classes, with results counting on official records. Fight schedules, format, and fighters would be “announced at a later date”.
UFC’s state-of-the-art Shanghai facility gives China cutting edge
There’s also the little matter of UFC contracts up for grabs, and in the past bantamweight Sean O’Malley (10-0), heavyweight Greg Hardy (5-1), and flyweight Maycee Barber (8-0) have fought their way on to the UFC roster through the US version of the series, which was launched in 2017.
No Asian fighter has yet been able to do so, although rising Australian light heavyweight star Jim “The Brute” Crute (10-1) picked one up after his efforts in the second series.
The UFC has also previously hosted The Ultimate Fighter China series in 2013-14.
Since its June launch the Shanghai PI has already played host to its first six-month UFC Academy programme for emerging talent – among them was Hong Kong bantamweight Ramona Pascual – while the stars of the UFC’s growing stable of Chinese fighters have been giving the facility a decent work over.
Strawweight queen Zhang “Magnum” Weili (20-1) used the facilities in the lead-up to her history-making defeat of Brazilian Jessica “Bate Estaca” Andrade (20-7) in Shenzhen in August and described the PI as a “game-changer” for Chinese fighters.
Kevin Chang, the UFC’s senior vice-president for Asia-Pacific, was at that Fight Night 162 card in Singapore and he was talking up the new PI, and the impact it could have on both fighters from the region and the sport in general.
“We have Chinese fighters at the PI, and from Asia. It’s a really busy facility and now we have become a partner of the Chinese Olympic Commission, and we’re serving as their high performance advisers,” said Chang.
“One of the goals of the facility was to raise the bar for sports in China and the region. The feeling we have is we’re just scratching the surface.”
Singapore was the second event the UFC has hosted in Asia this year – after the Zhang-Andrade card in Shenzhen in August. Next up comes UFC Fight Night 165: Ortega v Korean Zombie card set for the Busan, South Korea, on December 21.
