The Takedown

UFC: ‘special’ Maheshate gives Dana White something to cheer with China Academy stalling

The 21-year-old earns a UFC contract to spare Shanghai Performance Institute’s blushes after five other Chinese hopes fall short on Contender Series

State-of-the-art, US$13 million facility has yet to become the production line of UFC-ready talent it was clearly set up to be

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Maheshate celebrates after being awarded a UFC contract on Dana White’s Contender Series. Photo: Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Nico is a production editor on the South China Morning Post’s sport desk, where he covers mixed martial arts (MMA) in Asia, as well as local sport in Hong Kong.

Published: 7:00pm, 3 Nov 2021Updated: 8:00pm, 6 Nov 2021

Dana White did what all good promoters do when praising “special” Maheshate for his impressive victory on Tuesday night. But you could tell there was a little bit of relief after the UFC president was finally able to hand out a contract to one of the six China Academy fighters competing on season five of Contender Series.

The 21-year-old lightweight prospect earned a unanimous decision victory against previously-undefeated Canadian 29-year-old Achilles Estremadura (7-1), and White went to work at the post-event press conference in Las Vegas.

“This kid’s young, and he’s obviously very green,” White said. “I already think he’s incredibly tough – he weathered the storm in that first round, kept himself composed when he was in bad situations, then came out in the second round, went to work, started to do what he needed to do, what his corner was telling him, and eventually broke Achilles.

“I’m no doctor, but I’ve seen a few of these and I’m pretty sure he has a broken orbital. If it comes back he’s got a broken orbital he’s 1,000 times tougher than I already thought he was. That kid’s definitely special.”

Maheshate’s victory was certainly welcome after two more of his compatriots – flyweights Qiu Lun (14-8) and Shang Zhifa (32-8) – lost earlier in the night, to go along with last week’s 0-3 whitewash for the UFC China Academy.