In the past few years, with Zhang Weili, Li Jingliang, Song Yadong and other outstanding Chinese players continuing to play well, MMA mixed martial arts events represented by the UFC have rapidly heated up in China.
However, there is more than just applause and cheering on this stage, because the sport was launched late in China, and it is not easy for Chinese athletes to make a breakthrough in the professional competition dominated by Westerners, and every step they take is actually full of hardships.
At present, taking advantage of the opportunity that China's famous Li Jingliang will take the stage on the UFC fighting night on July 17, the surging news reporter follows the perspective of people in the industry and takes you to know more about the story behind the Chinese players competing for the world.
Li Jingliang (center) and the team depart from the capital airport to the United States. Image of this article: Courtesy of the interviewee
The only way to improve yourself is to go out
"After 2019, due to the global impact of the epidemic, many foreign coaches have not been able to come to China, resulting in the quality of training of domestic players cannot be guaranteed, such as Beijing's Boxing Club, and The Brazilian foreign coach Huy, who coached Zhang Tiequan, has not been able to come back."
"Such a problem is almost every player in China has to face, if you want to improve, you can only choose to go out ..."
The speaker is Wang Le, one of the few Chinese currently working for the world's top mixed martial arts brokerage company, his company Paradigm Sports, in addition to signing MMA superstars such as Connor McGregor and Isley Adisaya, also serves many Chinese UFC players including Li Jingliang, Yan Xiaonan, and Ao Riqilen.
Wang Le told the surging news reporter, "For Chinese players, going to overseas training is a means to quickly improve themselves, where you can get guidance from high-level coaches." ”
"In addition, there are top players from various countries, and you can contact different styles and train with them, which is a training condition that is unmatched in China."
We have also heard similar words from Song Yadong's mouth, as the highest ranking Chinese male player in the UFC, Song Yadong is stationed in Sacramento, California, USA.
It sounds like "studying abroad" is a good thing from any angle, and many of China's 12 UFC players are also training overseas, but what the taste of this is, non-parties can not understand.
Li Jingliang (third from left) invites teammate UFC star Robbie Lawler (third from right) to his home in an American apartment.
The first thing is to calculate the cost of living
There are many high-quality boxing gyms in the United States, where the UFC originated, but Chinese players are faced with more than just the seemingly simple option of choosing which boxing gym to train in.
Like many people who are "floating" overseas, when Chinese players first arrive, the first thing they face is the survival problem of eating, living and traveling. According to Wang Le, "Now Chinese players come to the United States to train, first of all, they do not consider which boxing gym to go to, but to calculate the living expenses and see how much economic expenses they can afford." ”
Li Jingliang signed a pictorial for the weekend competition.
In preparation for the UFC Fighting Night in New York on July 17, Lee arrived in the United States in early April and chose to train at the Sanford MMA Boxing Gym, a 40-minute drive from Miami, Florida.
"Li Jingliang is sharing a two-bedroom apartment with two other athletes, Shaylan, Bahat, coach Doss and team leader and translator Ren Zhongxian, five people sharing a two-bedroom apartment with a monthly rent of $3,500, which is the cheapest solution they can think of." Wang Le said.
Also using the shared apartment to reduce the cost of living is the UFC player Proud Riqileng, who also stayed in the Feather Ready MMA boxing gym in Phoenix, Arizona to continue training after he went to the United States at the end of last year.
"The apartment rented by Auriqileng is $2,700 a month, and it is not furnished, and when it was first rented, it could only sleep on the floor, and the bed frame mattress was subsequently found on the local second-hand platform. Fortunately, he shared a room with two other players, Alaten Heli and Baratkin, and was able to share a lot of financial pressure. ”
Yan Xiaonan with his boxing coach Marcus.
Rent pressure is enormous
In the past, Chinese players often rushed to overseas training and preparation in a short period of time before the game, and the cycle was only half a month to 40 days, because the time was relatively tight, and they often faced problems such as jet lag and weight loss, which affected the training state.
In addition, entering the training camp of foreign teachers, the run-in in a relatively short period of time is also very hard, they are not familiar with each other, and some new playing styles cannot be truly understood. Over time, some players chose to stay in the United States for longer periods of time.
Yan Xiaonan, China's top-ranked female player, has been training for more than a year at Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, California.
According to Wang Le, when Yan Xiaonan first arrived, he rented a small studio in an apartment near the boxing gym, and the monthly rent was about $1500.
The Chinese players could only sleep in the cubicle of the training hall.
"Public transportation in most cities in the United States is extremely underdeveloped, and it is difficult to walk without a car, so she can only find a place to live near the boxing gym in order to facilitate training." The monthly rent of 1500 US dollars or the price that can only be obtained by signing a one-year lease, if it is a short-term lease, the monthly rent will rise to more than two thousand or three thousand US dollars. ”
Another Chinese female player, Wu Yanan, and her training partner, ONE Champion Meng Bo, have been training at the Jackson Wink MMA boxing gym in Albuquerque, the capital of New Mexico, and one of the reasons for choosing this boxing gym is also equipped with dormitories.
"Although the so-called dormitories are all a room with several beds crammed together, there is no separate bathroom, and the accommodation environment is more difficult, but the monthly rent is only $500, and the financial burden of the players can be slightly smaller." Wang Le said.
Yan Xiaonan (first from right) and Team Alpha Male teammate Song Yadong (second from left).
Making money is far away
One might ask, is the income of professional players not enough to support their expenses? People in the industry will tell you that the situation is not as good as everyone thinks.
In fact, a player who has just entered the UFC will sign a rookie contract, and the appearance fee of the rookie contract is usually the same for everyone (with the exception of a very small number of famous players).
Although the UFC is already the highest-paid event in the MMA field, the amount of this rookie contract is still relatively low, if you simply calculate an account, a player can play up to 3 games a year, because in the United States, the income income is deducted from 30% tax, plus the share distributed to the coaching team or domestic clubs, this part is also 10% to 20%.
Over the course of a year, the amount of money a player can get their hands on is quite limited.
After the performance of this contract, the UFC will decide whether to renew the contract and what kind of contract to renew according to the performance of the players, and in the fiercely competitive UFC, there are not a few players who have been laid off because of their poor performance, and the second or even third contract can gradually open the income gap.
In short, for Chinese players who have not been in the UFC for a long time, working hard in the United States is still far from making a lot of money, and it is the true portrayal of more people who cannot make ends meet.
Wu Yanan and Meng Bo trained in the United States.
Choose the knowledge of the coach
In addition to economic costs, Chinese players also have to bear the cost of "trial and error", and there are countless good boxing gyms and good coaches, but how to choose the right one has been asked by universities.
"Usually, Chinese players will find coaches they know and have established contacts to train in the boxing gym where the coach is located, and there are also some Chinese players who do not have the resources in this regard, and can only find some big-name boxing gyms according to their fame."
In Wang Le's view, although big-name boxing gyms are good, they may not make every Chinese player feel comfortable.
"Whether the coach's style, the characteristics of the training partner are suitable for you, whether there are enough players of the same level to train with you, and even whether the coach pays enough attention to you, this is the problem."
"There are not many big names in some gyms, but from another point of view, the coach has more energy and time to help you. And some boxing stars gather, the coach can give you not too much time, you go, the effect may not be good. ”
He mentioned a Chinese player who had previously competed in Las Vegas, who had trained in a boxing gym where many well-known UFC players in the United States gathered, and Wang Le still remembers the appearance of this player who came to the game alone.
"Usually UFC matches are held on Saturdays (local time in the United States), and the players come to the competition venue with their training team on Tuesday to make a series of preparations such as pre-match registration, and I remember that he flew alone on Monday and his coach arrived on Thursday."
"And the player had to go through the most painful weight loss in the week before the game, he had to face it alone, and I think the coach and the team didn't give him enough help, which was one of the reasons why he was overweight and lost in the end."
What if you can't understand English
If the Chinese player is a bit unlucky, the difference between the overseas training model and the domestic player is a problem that almost all Chinese players have to face.
As we all know, MMA requires training in different fighting skills, and different training halls are also aimed at different specialties - boxing needs to go to a special boxing gym, jiu-jitsu needs to go to a jiu-jitsu hall, in addition to special physical training.
A player often has to run between different venues according to his own needs, about different coaches and training partners, which is very uncomfortable for many players in China who have come out of the professional team in the system.
In this regard, Wang Le has a deep feeling, "In China, it is basically a one-stop service, the coaches have arranged for you, and they will always stare at you and urge you, which is completely impossible in foreign countries, and many of them have to rely on their own planning and coordination." ”
Wang Le also mentioned that Chinese players have to face the language barrier when they work overseas. "What you want to practice, you need to communicate with the coach, partner, pure technical problems, maybe even if you don't understand it, you can see it clearly, but if the training is sublimated to the specific tactical strategy, such as why do you want to play like this, go deeper to communicate, English is not good, there are obstacles to understanding." 」
Even if the language communication is completely fine, how to reach a tacit understanding with overseas coaches also needs time, "after the players enter the octagon cage, the competition between the two sides is changing rapidly, at this time the coach shouts, you know what to do, not the mother tongue and there is no long time together, it is really difficult to react." ”
The cost is incalculable
Wu Yanan is a person who came to jackson Wink MMA boxing gym at the beginning of the year because of a knee injury. Mike Winkeljohn, an old coach who has been bringing former UFC champion Holly Holm, is experienced in coaching female players, but because it doesn't take long to officially resume training, there hasn't really been chemistry between them yet.
"Coach Wink will give us small lessons alone to help me analyze my opponents and develop tactics, and another coach, Joey Villasenor, will also accompany me to the game, but after all, our time to train in this boxing gym is too short, and the tacit understanding still needs time to develop."
Yan Xiaonan, who has just confirmed the next UFC game, also admitted that training overseas has gained a lot, but it is not suitable for everyone.
"Long looking abroad, one is that the economic cost is very large; The other is to be far away from home, not to see your family, and you will miss it in your heart. ”
"In terms of training, whether you can self-discipline or not, and whether you can reach enough tacit understanding with the coaching team is also very important... All in all, working hard overseas, you need to pay a great price. ”
All this Wang Le saw in his eyes, he made an analogy, "The player going to the United States to train is similar to 'study abroad', it is indeed of great help to the growth of the player, many media and boxing fans will also feel that the future is bright, but it is not easy to really adapt and stick to it, far more pressure than everyone imagines." ”
"Everyone usually watches the players post social media, think they are very happy and dashing, the little life is good, the real fighting life is not only this side."
"The sun always wants to make everyone happy, and the difficulties to be experienced are only known to the players themselves."
Source: The Paper