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For a long time, UFC President Dana White has been looking for his company to enter the Asian market. With the huge Chinese population, and the love for mixed martial arts, building a fan-base in the country has never been so important.
UFC Fight Night 141 marks the second time the company is making the trip to China. Last year they had hosted another Fight Night card in the country. Taking place in Beijing, China, the card is chock-full of local Chinese talent, but is headlined by a rematch which has long been in the making, Curtis Blaydes vs Francis Ngannou 2.
The two main events however have attracted a lot of attention for their own reasons. For fans of mixed martial arts, the card will be according to Chinese time, so to figure out how to watch the fight live and when to tune in, stay tuned to Sportskeeda.
In this article, we are going to take a detailed look at each of the four fights on the main card, as well as detail what other fights are on offer.
Before heading into the main card, these are the fights you can look forward to from the UFC China undercard.
UFC Fight Night 141 - Preliminary Card
Welterweight - Kenan Song vs. Alex Morono
Heavyweight - Hu Yaozong vs. Rashad Coulter
Bantamweight - Liu Pingyuan vs. Martin Day
Middleweight - Kevin Holland vs. John Philips
Bantamweight - Louis Smolka vs. Sumudaerji Sumudaerji
Women's Flyweight - Wu Yanan vs. Lauren Mueller
Women's Strawweight - Zhang Weili vs. Jessica Aguilar
Women's Strawweight - Yan Xiaonan vs. Syuri Kondo
While we will come back to the Preliminary Card at the end of this article for an in-depth look, lets now look at the fights from the main card.
#4 Li Jingliang vs David Zawada - Welterweight
In the first fight of the main card at UFC Fight Night 141: Beijing, Li Jingliang takes on David Zawada.
A newcomer to the Octagon, Zawada lost his UFC debut fight via split decision to Danny Roberts. Known for his knockout abilities, Zawada may be in over his head when he squares off against Jingliang.
One of the only Chinese fighters to find success in the UFC, Jingliang has an impressive 8-3 record since his debut in the Octagon in 2014. With this fight being in front of his home country crowd, Jingliang will be looking to make short work of his opponent.
#3 Song Yadong vs Vince Morales - Bantamweight
In the second fight of the main card, Song Yadong will take on the newcomer, Vince Morales.
While Yadong was supposed to have faced Frankie Saenz at the event, an injury led to him pulling out.
Morales did not have the best luck in his fight on Dana Whites' Tuesday Night Contender Series. He lost his fight against Domingo Pilarte and had to tap out in the second round due to being locked in a Rear Naked Choke. A win at Bellator 205 however seems to have afforded him another chance in the UFC.
On the other side of things, Yadong is on a run of wins. With a six-fight winning streak heading into this fight, he is more than prepared to take on his opponent in front of a home crowd in China. Two of those six wins came in back-to-back victories for him inside the Octagon, where he is yet to be defeated.
The two will square off against each other at UFC China, with Yadong looking to add to his run.
#2 Alistair Overeem vs Sergey Pavlovich - Heavyweight
Once a contender for the UFC Heavyweight Championship, Alistair Overeem has fallen far in the world of UFC. He lost his title fight against Stipe Miocic in late 2016, and tried to move on from the loss fast.
This was where he was successful, as he defeated Mark Hunt and Fabricio Werdum in back-to-back bouts in 2017. Looking to put a seal on the year, he then faced Francis Ngannou.
Here, he was not so lucky. A loss to Ngannou put him back quite a few steps, and this time when he tried to bounce back with a fight against Curtis Blaydes, he only fell further.
He lost to Blaydes in 2018 at UFC 225, and is now ranked as the number 6 UFC Heavyweight on the roster. A win here is critical for him, and any title hopes he may have for the immediate future.
His opponent is none other than Sergey Pavlovich. A newcomer to the Octagon, he is not a fighter anyone should be looking past soon.
Pavlovich is yet to be defeated in his professional mixed martial arts career, with a current record of being undefeated after 12 fights.
This will be Pavlovich's first fight in over a year, and he will be looking to make an immediate impact with his Octagon debut. A win over Overeem at UFC Fight Night 141 would be the most direct possible message to send the rest of the Heavyweight division about his intentions.
#1 Curtis Blaydes vs Francis Ngannou - Heavyweight
Having met previously, neither of these two fighters are strangers to one another.
While Ngannou has had one of the worst 2018 for any fighter, he will be looking to make up for that with this fight. After an incredible 2015, 2016, and 2017, where he notched up one victory after the other - including a victory over Curtis Blaydes, he finally managed to earn a title shot against then UFC Heavyweight Champion, Stipe Miocic, in January of 2018.
Miocic took on Ngannou and summarily dismissed him in short order. The shock of such a huge loss hurt him badly as he was dominated throughout the five rounds.
In an attempt to bounce back, he then faced Derrick Lewis at UFC 226. While Lewis won via unanimous decision, the fight was heavily criticised due to the slow, trepidatious pace set by the two fighters.
Ngannou had lost once again, but worse, the fight had not even been entertaining. Now, he is set to go against an opponent he had previously beaten. Can he do it again at UFC China?
Curtis Blaydes on the other hand, will be out for revenge. This fight against Francis Ngannou means a lot to him.
When Blaydes first came to the UFC, his debut fight was against none other than Ngannou. He lost on that occasion after a doctor stopped his fight following the second round. Since then he has won every fight he has been a part of.
His loss against Ngannou remains the only blemish on an otherwise perfect mixed martial arts record.
This fight will mean a lot to him, as a win here will allow him to put the past behind him once and for all after UFC Fight Night 141.
UFC Fight Night 141 - Preliminary Card
While the Preliminary Card is mainly full of the local Chinese talents who debuted on previous ventures of UFC into Asia, there are a couple of promising fights to look forward to on this show.
At Middleweight, Kevin Holland will be looking for redemption after he lost his debut UFC fight at UFC 227 against Thiago Santos. Taking on John Phillips, this is one of the only non-Chinese fights on the Prelims.
Wu Yanan will also take on Lauren Mueller in the Women's Flyweight Division in the UFC. Despite the greater experience of Yanan heading into this fight, Mueller is not a fighter to be overlooked. Still unbeaten, she will pose quite a threat to Yanan.
An interesting point to note is that Liu Pingyuan and Martin Day will be facing each other at Bantamweight. Both fighters were former Flyweights in UFC before this, and with the rumours of the division being closed down in the near future, this is yet another signal towards the inevitable.
In the two major fights of the Preliminary Card at Heavyweight, Rashad Coulter will face Hu Yaozong. The two fighters are set to square off against each other in what should be an interesting fight, as neither has won a single fight in the Octagon yet.
While there are other fights, the main fight from the Preliminary Card is between Kenan Song and Alex Morono. The two fighters are set to square off inside the Octagon at Welterweight.
While Song is yet to lose a single fight in the Octagon, having won two fights back-to-back, Morono has not been so lucky. With the exception of a no contest bout, he has only won three of his five bouts in the UFC till date.
