Riding the LRT out to Cotai presents a panorama of Macau glories past and present. The rubber-tyred two-carriage trains cruise past the overgrown ruins of the Macau Jockey Club – faded paint on concrete blocks as former stables bake in the late-May summer sun.
Overlooking the fuzzy green track: the Zhuhai skyline (the dream of an architect’s drawing) and the gilded steeples of the Galaxy Macau complex. At last count: 550,000 square metres, 10 hotels, a convention centre, a shopping promenade, and a casino. And the Galaxy Arena – host to three nights of UFC fighting, a total of 33 bouts of MMA (mixed martial arts) last month.
‘Kung Fu Kid’ defeats the ‘God of War’
UFC Fight Night: Song vs. Figueiredo sold out the arena within two hours of its announcement. Saturday night’s main event featured Song “Kung Fu Kid” Yadong (宋亚东) versus Deiveson “Deus da Guerra” (“God of War”) Figueiredo. It culminated when the 28-year-old Harbin-born Song slapped a guillotine choke on the Brazilian veteran and forced him to tap out.
The hometown fans were delighted, especially after the co-main event, which saw Zhang “Mountain Tiger” Mingyang (张名扬) bested by Texas-based fighter Alonzo “Atomic” Menifield via first-round TKO finish.
Moscow, da (‘yes’ in Russian), California, not so much
The night’s pugilists also featured Russian heavyweight Sergei Pavlovich, who squared off against Brazilian Tallison “Xicão” (“Big Francisco”) Teixeira. The Muscovite dispatched Teixeira via TKO (technical knockout) in 39 seconds, then waved to cheers from the crowd of 12,647 (official attendance).
Fighters from other lands were not so lauded. Californian Alex Perez received a regrettable low blow from fellow flyweight Sumudaerji “The Tibetan Eagle” and spent an allotted five-minute timeout hunched over a bucket in the cage. The fight was declared a no-contest and as Perez exited the arena on his way to the hospital, boos reverberated. Were those small objects this reporter saw flying in his direction?
Battle of the nicknames
Cage fighters love predatory nicknames, but aggressive nomenclature often failed during the Macau melee. Cameron “The Baby-Faced Killa” Smotherman succumbed to the even more baby-faced Kai Asakura (朝倉海) via left-hook knockout in the first round.
Aoriqileng “The Mongolian Murderer” (傲日其楞) lost his homicidal aura in the second round against Australia’s Cody Haddon when he too was knocked out. And Rodrigo “El Gato Loco” (“The Crazy Cat”) Vera went a bit crazy on his opponent, fellow featherweight Zhu Kangjie (朱康杰), aka “The Hypnotist”, knocking out the Hefei-born Zhu in the first round.
One of the evening’s highlights was veteran straw weight Angela “Overkill” Hill against Xiong “The Panda” Jingnan (熊竞楠). The fight was Hill’s thirtieth in the organisation and Xiong’s first UFC tussle. Both fighters held championship belts in other fight organisations, and Xiong’s wars with Angela “Unstoppable” Lee are the stuff of women’s MMA legend. In the event, Hill turned in a masterful, workmanlike performance to earn a unanimous decision win over the Jining-born fighter.
In the only other WMMA match of the evening, Loma Lookboonmee, the sole Thai fighter on the UFC roster, lost via submission to Brazilian Jaqueline Amorim, who used an armbar to defeat the Buriram native in the first round. No nicknames were involved.
UFC: bullish on China
The Galaxy Arena, which officially opened in 2023, seems an ideal venue for the Las Vegas-based promotion, which opened its Shanghai Performance Institute gym in 2019. That same year, UFC Fight Night Shenzhen was held at the Universiade Sports Centre.
The organisation has held numerous events in Shanghai, and its next event is a fight card scheduled for August 29 at the Shanghai Indoor Stadium. Fighters have yet to be announced.
This photo shows Song “Kung Fu Kid” Yadong (left) being declared the winner after his bout with Brazil’s Deiveson “Deus da Guerra” Figueiredo at UFC FIGHT NIGHT in Galaxy Arena.
US fighter Alonso “Atomic” Menifield (left) winds up to strike Zhang Mingyang, aka the “Mountain Tiger”, during their co-main fight on Saturday’s “UFC FIGHT NIGHT”. – Photos courtesy of Getty Images/UFC
