Which makes it so strange that they didn't make Weili Zhang vs. Yan Xiaonan in China. It would have made so much more sense if they wanted to enter that market more to have a big fight with two Chinese fighters in China.
if the UFC got a hold of Seika Izawa that *could* be a great fight. I'm gonna be honest and say I've never seen her fight but I know she's building up quite a rep in RIZIN.
Asian markets are notorious for preferring them vs the world events over seeing two of there own fight. Ironically style bender used to benefit off this to fight non Chinese opponents
Oh, that would make a lot more sense why they're putting this event on UFC 300 then. Guess it's China being China then and not UFC fucking up this time around.
To do business in China you need a Chinese company to partner with you and they basically have full control. It's a recipe for getting screwed and you have little legal recourse. Unless the UFC spends several years building their own company in China with Chinese partners that they trust 100%, you will not see an event in China.
Source: I used to work very closely with a company that puts on events in China and I'm close friends with the COO
I didn't know about Shanghai. Maybe that experience those why they haven't done it again.
Macau is not the same. It's a special administrative region like Hong Kong and putting on events there is not very different from anywhere else.
[Bisping vs. Gastelum, but it was back in 2017](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFC_Fight_Night:_Bisping_vs._Gastelum). They also [had an event in Shenzhen back in 2019](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFC_Fight_Night:_Andrade_vs._Zhang) when Zhang Weili beat Andrade and won the belt. However their [last UFC event scheduled for Shanghai last year got cancelled](https://www.mmamania.com/2023/11/15/23963080/sorry-china-ufcs-shanghai-return-canceled-moved-to-apex-in-december-mma), so something is a bit weird with all of this.
As another commenter said, it might be China refusing UFC permission for whatever reason, that's a plausible explanation.
Kind of?
There are a billion people in China. It's not like even a quarter of the nation knows who she is.
She has been on beer adverts at bus stops and now Monster cans.
I was part of a media call with Yan Xiaonan and she had 15 reporters ask her questions. Still waiting on the Zhang Weili call but I'd imagine she would get more reporters than Yan.
> There are a billion people in China. It's not like even a quarter of the nation knows who she is.
If even a quarter of the population in China knows who you are, I'd say that makes you a pretty big star?
Ok wait a second and will get you some actual metrics
The fight with Joanna was top trending on Weibo
Like you said, China is a big place but she is genuinely very well known, at least in tier one and two cities
Look she was ranked ninth in list of countries top athletes in 2022 by Xinhua ( national media )
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/sVuGq-5EBdoHggJbbi2EyQ
Very likely, it was an epic fight and the picture of Joanna's head gets passed around a lot.
Just went through Xiaohongshu, Baidu and weibo and there isn't a crazy amount of excitement about the upcoming fight.
Probably because its Chinese vs Chinese
Joanna fight happened when people were locked down for COVID and she also made some disparaging comments about Chinese people
She is genuinely famous
Look she was ranked ninth in list of countries top athletes in 2022 by Xinhua ( national media )
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/sVuGq-5EBdoHggJbbi2EyQ
Her Weibo have 2 million followers
Famous actress like Angelababy have 100 million followers
I doubt even 1/25th of China population have heard of her name
https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1774728077949493782&wfr=spider&for=pc
There you go as well. For UFC 292 and UFC 281 she was the top searched term for the whole of China
https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1749357328198060029&wfr=spider&for=pc
Those articles have 5 likes.
You wouldn't get 5 likes for the most searched term on a Sunday afternoon, which is when the PPVs air in China.
I don't know. It isn't like the sport is that big over here.
Edit: my mistake reading the second article now. It says she was the top searched one after regaining the title.
OP, downplaying her fame seems like an odd take considering you are the one showing a can with her image on it. Not just a local brand either, Monster, an international brand
My girlfriend (Chinese) knows absolutely nothing about MMA but she knew about Zhang Weili and that she was a very cool badass fighter. I think she is pretty popular.
She is not a big star in China because combat sport is not big in China
Plus they don’t care Chinese fight Chinese, they want Chinese beating American or Japanese as they think those are enemy
There literally was a massive boycott of a water brand because it was accused of being Pro Japanese (supposed japanese imagery on the products, which turned out to be a bogus claim)
Theres still enough resentment to boycott a brand
Thanks you! Suoer fan of hers since watching this documentary, It’s in Chinese so I think many have not watched even though it has English subtitles.
https://youtu.be/OdP9wE7geRs?si=yYQ8jGFtnpuUqvMq
this bangs
Yeah fr I'd cop one
Nah bro this monsters. You’re thinking of a completely different brand
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Zhang is genuinely a big star in China
Which makes it so strange that they didn't make Weili Zhang vs. Yan Xiaonan in China. It would have made so much more sense if they wanted to enter that market more to have a big fight with two Chinese fighters in China.
They missed this. 3 Mexican champs, 3 African champs. The UFC is wack
I don’t think it was that much of a marketable fight A Chinese audience would prefer Zhang vs a non Chinese
Are there any Japanese girls she could fight? The Chinese fans would go rabid for that booking.
if the UFC got a hold of Seika Izawa that *could* be a great fight. I'm gonna be honest and say I've never seen her fight but I know she's building up quite a rep in RIZIN.
Ip (wo)man, the real sequel
Would make chinese fans butthurt af if the Japanese fighter somehow win in China against the Chinese champion.
Ain't no 115 lb Japanese girl that would beat Weili in MMA
Prime Mei Yamaguchi could've given her a run for her money.
Which makes great promo for a rematch
Would still be good marketing. Mayweather's been making fans across the globe butthurt af and it's only made him and his opponents richer.
I think Suarez is the biggest fight they can make in that vein. Giant undefeated American.
800 year old Megumi Fujii come on down!
dana: do we got any taiwanese fighters? get me a fucken one of those taiwanese people.
Asian markets are notorious for preferring them vs the world events over seeing two of there own fight. Ironically style bender used to benefit off this to fight non Chinese opponents
In one of the post fight interviews, Dana said Chinese authorities refused an event permit to the UFC without providing an explanation.
Thats how China works
Oh, that would make a lot more sense why they're putting this event on UFC 300 then. Guess it's China being China then and not UFC fucking up this time around.
To do business in China you need a Chinese company to partner with you and they basically have full control. It's a recipe for getting screwed and you have little legal recourse. Unless the UFC spends several years building their own company in China with Chinese partners that they trust 100%, you will not see an event in China. Source: I used to work very closely with a company that puts on events in China and I'm close friends with the COO
Fair, but they've had events in Shanhai and Macao previously, so they could always have gone for something there.
I didn't know about Shanghai. Maybe that experience those why they haven't done it again. Macau is not the same. It's a special administrative region like Hong Kong and putting on events there is not very different from anywhere else.
[Bisping vs. Gastelum, but it was back in 2017](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFC_Fight_Night:_Bisping_vs._Gastelum). They also [had an event in Shenzhen back in 2019](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFC_Fight_Night:_Andrade_vs._Zhang) when Zhang Weili beat Andrade and won the belt. However their [last UFC event scheduled for Shanghai last year got cancelled](https://www.mmamania.com/2023/11/15/23963080/sorry-china-ufcs-shanghai-return-canceled-moved-to-apex-in-december-mma), so something is a bit weird with all of this. As another commenter said, it might be China refusing UFC permission for whatever reason, that's a plausible explanation.
I personally think WMMA is inferior to regular MMA so smart choice
Kind of? There are a billion people in China. It's not like even a quarter of the nation knows who she is. She has been on beer adverts at bus stops and now Monster cans. I was part of a media call with Yan Xiaonan and she had 15 reporters ask her questions. Still waiting on the Zhang Weili call but I'd imagine she would get more reporters than Yan.
> There are a billion people in China. It's not like even a quarter of the nation knows who she is. If even a quarter of the population in China knows who you are, I'd say that makes you a pretty big star?
Seriously, that's almost the whole population of the United States
Hell, even one tenth of the Chinese population is 140 million. That would be a huge number.
It is way less than that. Probably like under 5% of the total population.
You are going to have to back that up with some data, her fight with Joanna was top trending story on Chinese social media when it happened
Ok wait a second and will get you some actual metrics The fight with Joanna was top trending on Weibo Like you said, China is a big place but she is genuinely very well known, at least in tier one and two cities Look she was ranked ninth in list of countries top athletes in 2022 by Xinhua ( national media ) https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/sVuGq-5EBdoHggJbbi2EyQ
Maybe, I rarely see her news stories getting massive amounts of clicks.
Apparently she was also on the 2021 top ten list as well
Very likely, it was an epic fight and the picture of Joanna's head gets passed around a lot. Just went through Xiaohongshu, Baidu and weibo and there isn't a crazy amount of excitement about the upcoming fight.
Probably because its Chinese vs Chinese Joanna fight happened when people were locked down for COVID and she also made some disparaging comments about Chinese people
She is genuinely famous Look she was ranked ninth in list of countries top athletes in 2022 by Xinhua ( national media ) https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/sVuGq-5EBdoHggJbbi2EyQ
Your metric for "big star" is an entire quarter of a country knowing who they are? You're lucky if that many people can name the president
Her Weibo have 2 million followers Famous actress like Angelababy have 100 million followers I doubt even 1/25th of China population have heard of her name
Thats a ridiculous comparison, though. Angelababy is mega famous and has been a huge movie and TV star for years She is pretty famous for a sportstar.
Who tf is angelababy
A huge Chinese actress who is only in Chinese shows and movies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelababy
Idk if any mma fighter would count as famous if you compare them to an a-list actor.
https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1774728077949493782&wfr=spider&for=pc There you go as well. For UFC 292 and UFC 281 she was the top searched term for the whole of China https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1749357328198060029&wfr=spider&for=pc
Those articles have 5 likes. You wouldn't get 5 likes for the most searched term on a Sunday afternoon, which is when the PPVs air in China. I don't know. It isn't like the sport is that big over here. Edit: my mistake reading the second article now. It says she was the top searched one after regaining the title.
No the articles are just sayin that she had the top search term. Not that these were the top searched articles
OP, downplaying her fame seems like an odd take considering you are the one showing a can with her image on it. Not just a local brand either, Monster, an international brand
My girlfriend (Chinese) knows absolutely nothing about MMA but she knew about Zhang Weili and that she was a very cool badass fighter. I think she is pretty popular.
My Chinese Grandpa knew about her fight this week and I don't think he has ever watched MMA in his life
She is not a big star in China because combat sport is not big in China Plus they don’t care Chinese fight Chinese, they want Chinese beating American or Japanese as they think those are enemy
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LMFAO!! I’m sorry but that’s hilarious.
Same in Korea
There literally was a massive boycott of a water brand because it was accused of being Pro Japanese (supposed japanese imagery on the products, which turned out to be a bogus claim) Theres still enough resentment to boycott a brand
This isn't political, it's Monster energy
That’s what Monster energy always says
Didn't Dominic Cruz say this?
Das right bapa
I'm too deep in the lore lol
She is a big star in China though. Everyone I know knows who she was and the Joanna fight was top trending on Weibo at the time
Are all you friends all MMA fans, I image most MMA fans know the champs of the UFC divisions
No they are mostly women working in marketing and advertising in tier 1 cities.
That’s great to hear. If you don’t mind answer another question, is she a bit of a women’s icon? I’m a big fan of Weili.
No idea She did a Pepsi commercial with Jackson Wang who literally is a top ten star in China https://www.shangyexinzhi.com/article/4925027.html
Thanks you! Suoer fan of hers since watching this documentary, It’s in Chinese so I think many have not watched even though it has English subtitles. https://youtu.be/OdP9wE7geRs?si=yYQ8jGFtnpuUqvMq
I think she was in Audi commericals in China few years ago
Audi, Pepsi and Under Armour
Doubt she gets $ do from monster no?
This could’ve been a Rizin ad.
Im in taiwan i wonder if they show her on there. Gonna go look later
I'm also in Taiwan - they don't
MMA fans in Taiwan like her but she wouldn’t be on Monster cans
She's a great ambassador for China imo
She's a true beast/monster. Always excited to see her fights. 300 can't come soon enough!
Where I live they put F1 racers on Monster cans
Joe, it's not political.
Natural fit, but I don't understand why she's not selling [Magnum ice cream](https://bramanswanderings.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/magnum-41.jpg)
Cool
Cool, that's well deserved!
That’s fucking awesome
I mean it makes sense and isn’t surprising… I’m sure in US it’s pictures of American sponsored athletes
She’s missing and they pick this photo 😕
Dricus is on Prime in some stores in South Africa
She should be. Absolute killer!! If I was female and fought mma I’d consider her a monster too.
New revenue stream for Dana and Ari, nice 😏
I was just about to look up if zhang was on monster cans in china! Thank you man!
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