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[이데일리 스타in 이석무 기자] The Chinese fighter, who once provoked Kim Dong-hyun, the ‘stungun’, had a devastating defeat at the UFC stage.
China’s Li Jingliang defeated Hamzat Chimaev (27, Russia) in the first round at 3:16 seconds in the welterweight match of the mixed martial arts competition ‘UFC 267’ held at the Etihad Arena in Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates on the 31st (Korean time) He suffered a technical submission defeat by a rear naked choke.
Li Jing-liang, who has been active in the UFC since 2014, publicly provoked Kim Dong-hyun, who was then ranked at the top of the welterweight division, in 2017, saying, “Let’s cover the strongest in Asia.” Since then, the fight with Kim Dong-hyun did not happen, but as he built his career, he climbed to No. 11 in the UFC Welterweight Rankings.
However, this match was left as a huge humiliation for Li Jingliang. He could not even fight properly against his opponent, Chimaev, and suffered unilaterally.
Prior to that fight, Chimaev had only fought three times in the UFC. It has not yet been placed in the top 15 rankings. However, he boasts overwhelming skills and power to the point that he is called the ‘second Khabib Nurmagomedov’.
Cimaev had won all three UFC fights before that day by KO or submission. In particular, after defeating John Phillips with a submission on July 16 of last year, he reappeared just ten days later and showed off his mighty strength by defeating Rhys McKee by KO on July 26.
Chimaev announced his retirement after falling ill with Corona 19 last year, but overturned it and returned to the Octagon after 13 months. In an interview before the match, he shouted “I will eat Li Jingliang’s head” and kept his promise in the actual match.
Chimaev knocked down Rizing Liang in the early part of the first round, completely subdued it with the ground, and then applied a rear-nake choke. Li Jingliang struggled to survive the strangulation of Chimaev’s arm, but eventually passed out. The referee quickly stopped the match to prevent a more dangerous situation.
In the total number of hits, Chimaev hit 58, while Li Jingliang didn’t hit a single one. The takedown number is 1-0, and that single takedown decided the game.
With this victory, Chimaev demonstrated his might by defeating KOs and submissions in all four fights since his UFC debut. With this win, he reserved his entry into the UFC welterweight rankings. Furthermore, the possibility of emerging as a strong contender to challenge current champion Kamaru Usman increased.
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