UFC 298 - New Blood: China’s next big thing +3

As is standard these days, UFC 298 took a beating on its way to the pay-per-view (PPV) airwaves this weekend (Sat., Feb. 17, 2024) inside Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.; however, the final lineup still features several Octagon newcomers. On this edition of “New Blood” — the series where I actually found footage from a Chinese organization for once — we checkout three Contender Series graduates and a promising prospect from the Far East.

As always, episodes from the most recent Contender Series season are on ESPN+ ...

Zhang “Mountain Tiger” Mingyang

Weight Class: Light Heavyweight
Age: 25
Record: 16-6 (10 KO, 6 SUB)
Notable Victories: George Tokkos

Once 7-6 at 22 years old, Zhang got his act together with eight consecutive victories on the Chinese circuit. This earned him a spot on “Road to UFC,” where he defied +450 odds to smash George Tokkos and claim a UFC contract.

There’s only so much info you can glean from a guy who hasn’t seen a second round in nearly six years, especially when most of his opponents were — to put it bluntly — terrible. That said, I really think this guy has a ton of potential. He’s extremely quick and light-footed for a 205-pound fighter, boasts impressive hand speed, packs concussive power in his right hand, and shows a lot of wrinkles you love to see out of a developing prospect.

The Tokkos fight — despite lasting a little less than four minutes — showed off many of Zhang’s negative and positive attributes. On the negative side, he tends to throw naked low kicks from punching range and doesn’t always mind his distance when attacking, which allowed Tokkos to land some nasty haymakers. On the positive side, Zhang attacked the body, snuck in elbows at close range, doubled up on the right hand, landed stiff jabs, and found the mark with several clean counters.

His takedown defense and clinch work seemed solid, too.

Between his physical gifts and the surprisingly deep striking toolbox he developed as a big fish in a small pond, pieces are there for a potential contender. Indeed, with the proper seasoning, I could see Zhang reaching the heights of Song Yadong, or at the very least, surpassing Li Jingliang. As-is, I like his chances against debut foe Brendson Ribeiro, who’s shown durability issues in the past and is more prone than Zhang to losing composure in a fire fight.

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Brendson “The Gorilla” Ribeiro

Weight Class: Light Heavyweight
Age: 27
Record: 15-5 (9 KO, 6 SUB)
Notable Victories: Bruno Lopes, Joao Paulo Fagundes, Leon Soares

A comeback knockout of Joao Paulo Fagundes earned Ribeiro the Shooto Brasil Light Heavyweight title and a spot on Contender Series. Despite entering as a massive underdog, “The Gorilla” rose to the occasion with a violent knockout of undefeated Legacy Fighting Alliance (LFA) champion, Bruno Lopes.

The good: Ribeiro is surprisingly adept at using his freakish 81-inc reach, sporting a stiff jab and thumping straight right that seemingly covers half the width of the cage. Though he can back straight up, he’s a decent counter puncher, which served him well against Lopes’ predictable blitzes. He’s also adept at one of my favorite tricks: following a kick or knee with a punch from the same side.

The bad: Ribeiro’s striking technique falls apart when forced to throw more than two punches in a combination. This was on full display early in his fight with Fagundes when Ribeiro got sucked into a slugfest and ate a bomb of a right directly to the chin. He’s fine when he keeps his distance and doesn’t get caught up in trading punches, but for a knockout artist, he’s remarkably vulnerable in a fire fight.

Worse than that is his ground game. Ribeiro doesn’t have much to offer off of his back besides strikes and a guillotine he puts way too much faith in. There was a surreal moment in his 2022 loss to Marcio Breno where Ribeiro insisted on trying to throw punches from open guard and half guard even as Breno pounded him unconscious from the top.

His win over Fagundes was similarly cartoonish. He hit an outside trip on Fagundes, only to instantly surrender a deep half guard sweep while chasing the high-elbow guillotine. He hit a sweep of his own, then immediately gave up the same sweep chasing the same guillotine. He only won that fight because Fagundes was too sloppy with his ground-and-pound, leaving him unable to secure the finish before Ribeiro escaped mount, found his way on top, and pounded him out in return.

Ribeiro’s still relatively young and fights out of a solid camp in Evolucao Thai, but it’s hard to see him shoring up his defensive liabilities eight years and 20 fights into his professional career. Though he still has a shot at stopping the still-green Zhang Mingyang, “Mountain Tiger” has the higher ceiling and should take out the more fragile Ribeiro in the opening round.

His LFA bout is on Fight Pass.

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Danny “LeftHand2God” Barlow

Weight Class: Welterweight
Age: 28
Record: 7-0 (4 KO, 1 SUB)
Notable Victories: Raheam Forest

Barlow went 6-1 as an amateur before turning professional in 2021. A series of wins carried him to the 2023 season of Contender Series, where he took just 79 seconds to flatten Raheam Forest and claim a contract.

Say one thing about Barlow, say that he’s not big on false advertising — his mixed martial arts (MMA) game revolves around his titular left hand. He fights out of a wide karate-esque Southpaw stance, using his lead hand to smother the opponent’s lead hand while looking for opportunities to slam home his razor-sharp left cross. He’s happy to lead with it or fire it behind the jab, but he’s at his most lethal on the counter. He does an excellent job of being just inches out of reach and planting his feet to deliver maximum power as his opponent’s momentum carries them into his fist. It’s very reminiscent of Lyoto Machida, specifically the car-crash counter that folded Ryan Bader years ago.

His speed, accuracy and range management are all top-notch, and he’s not exclusively a puncher, either. He varies his roundhouse kicks quite well, mixing in head, body, and low kicks in sequence, and likewise does a good job of harassing the lead leg with side and front kicks.

Barlow doesn’t really do anything wrong on the feet, per se, save perhaps a potential issue with inside low kicks that his counters do a good job of covering. He’s just always walking a tightrope. For example, planting your feet and putting your hips into a counter right in your opponent’s face is both a great way to maximize power and an extremely risky move if you get the distance even slightly wrong. Forest got a flash knockdown with a cross counter over Barlow’s left cross — and while that’s not necessarily a red flag — it’s a reminder that he can never let his focus slip.

On the grappling side, his control of range usually gives him plenty of time to stiff-arm or slip in an underhook when opponents try to shoot. He did, however, have trouble off his back when Dustin Dipuma shot under Barlow’s straight left. And he was inches away from getting caught in a rear-naked choke and struggled to get back to his feet before ultimately kicking Dipuma away and scrambling up.

If the stars align for Barlow, I can see him potentially getting a number next to his name. He’s sharp as a tack, equally comfortable being measured or aggressive as the situation demands. That said, he’s in for a risky debut against Josh Quinlan, whose vicious low kicks, quality chin and thudding power are a real threat.

His CFFC bouts are on Fight Pass.

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Oban “The Welsh Gangster” Elliott

Weight Class: Welterweight
Age: 26
Record: 9-2 (2 KO, 3 SUB)
Notable Victories: Kaik Brito, James Sheehan

Elliott dispatched all seven of his amateur foes inside the distance ahead of his professional debut. A 4-2 start gave way to four straight wins under the Cage Warriors banner, followed by a gutsy decision over Kaik Brito on Contender Series.

Despite the appellation, Elliott’s a measured all-rounder, utilizing his boxing background to fire off snappy jabs and quick combos from either stance. Solid footwork and lateral movement keep him out of his opponents’ firing lines — and should his hands not cut it — he can put some real thump behind his body kicks.

It’s not a particularly flashy style — especially since he doesn’t really sit down on his shots for the sake of staying mobile — but he’s got a good motor and crisp technique. Though he doesn’t check low kicks, he’s adept at catching and countering them once he gets his opponent’s timing down. He’s also remarkably durable. For example, Brito punished Elliott’s favored tight left hook with a right cross straight out of Usman-Masvidal 2, then proceeded to club him in the temple and slam home haymakers for the better part of two minutes without polishing off Elliott. Elliott was dead on his feet for most of the barrage and still left his corner as the fresher fighter in round three.

Though he reportedly has some judo experience, Elliott usually leans on a fast double-leg when he wants to take it south. He starts dropping punches and elbows as soon as it hits the mat, but that comes at the cost of control, with more than one former foe scrambling free as soon as Elliott postured up to put some real heat behind his shots. Defensively, he seems to have improved from his 2021 loss to Madars Fleminas wherein Fleminas secured a body lock and suffocated Elliott with mat returns, top control and strikes. It’s admittedly hard to say how much considering neither of his last two opponents really tried to take him down.

Elliott is, well, he’s good. Does a lot of things well, doesn’t do a lot of things poorly. He also just doesn’t stand out anywhere and isn’t a finishing threat against competent opposition. He’ll beat poor wrestlers and strikers who can’t cut off the cage, but I don’t see him reaching contention without significant improvement.

As for his debut, he fights Val Woodburn — a bowling ball of a Middleweight — who will, perhaps unwisely, attempt to juice himself down to 170 pounds. Elliott has a technical edge in every area and is tough enough to survive a stray haymaker, so expect smooth sailing.

His Cage Warriors bouts are on Fight Pass.

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Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 298 fight card right here, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. ET (simulcast on ESPN at 8 p.m. ET), before the pay-per-view (PPV) main card start time at 10 p.m. ET (also on ESPN+).

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