ANAHEIM, Calif. – Zhang Mingyang beat Brendson Ribeiro with a first-round knockout Saturday on the preliminary card at UFC 298 at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.
Take a look inside the fight with Mingyang, who picked up a $50,000 performance bonus in his promotional debut.
Zhang Mingyang vs. Brendson Ribeiro
Result: Zhang Mingyang def. Brendson Ribeiro via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 1:41
Updated records: Mingyang (17-6 MMA, 1-0 UFC), Ribeiro (15-6 MMA, 0-1 UFC)
Key stats: Mingyang has all 17 of his wins by stoppage, including 11 knockouts.
Mingyang on the fight's key moment
“I know (this win) belongs to me. I just put something that belongs to me back in my pocket. Only I know what I experienced in the past one and a half years – injury, and I got married, but no honeymoon. I cannot give my wife a fancy wedding. When my baby was born, I was not there – I was in camp. So I owe my wife, my son, my family so many things – too many things. But I chose this path, and that is what I need to sacrifice to achieve the victory. The win, I think is because hard work pays off. I know I deserve it.”
Mingyang on struggles to get to the UFC
“We have so many people in (China) who support me. That’s the positive energy to keep me going. People all know that China has good fighters in smaller divisions – bantamweight, featherweight. But my mission is to let the world know we have big guys (in China) who can fight in the UFC. That’s this mission: Just keep pushing me, and go forward and just showcase to the whole world what we can do, what we Chinese people can achieve.”
Mingyang on what he wants next
“I’m going to take a little break to spend some time with my family and then discuss with my team to see what is the next step for me. But there is a name in my mind: Tyson Pedro. The UFC scheduled me to fight him last year, but I withdraw from that fight due to injury. But there were some fans criticizing me: ‘Why withdraw from this fight? You fear him?’ or some other reason. So he is the guy I want to fight.”
To hear more from Mingyang, check out the video above.
UFC 298 Images
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 298.
