10 Lessons Learned From UFC Fight Night: Bisping vs. Le

4. Don't Expect TUF: China To Be Producing Contenders Any Time Soon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qA6AS1dmPQI Note that we used the word contender here. Not champion, because you shouldn't expect those either, but contenders. You won't be seeing any of the fighters on TUF: China even main eventing in the near future. Why? The featherweight finale of The Ultimate Fighter: China opened the main card of UFC Fight Night 48, and aside from a second round arm-in guillotine attempt the action was sparse. The bout, featuring Ning Guangyou against Yang Jianping, wound up earning boos from the crowd as the two wound up shadow-boxing in the second round. Boos from a hometown crowd for a bout with two Chinese fighters - boos which began raining down again in the third (to add insult to injury, or well, insult to even more insult at least, the fighters had extra time to prepare as this bout was moved from earlier in the year due to injury). Which tells you that the Chinese audience knows what it's seeing and isn't going to be appeased by cards loaded with local talent who would otherwise be fighting for regional promotions. That's fine. Despite martial arts being part of Asian and Chinese culture, they remain behind the curve as far as competitive modern MMA is concerned, and it will take them a bit of time to catch up. The UFC just needs to understand that when they head to China in future, they need to rely on more than just Cung Le and one or two western stars. For the record, Ning Guangyou won TUF China's featherweight tournament via decision.