China's first Tibetan UFC fighter chases title dream and inspires fans

SHANGHAI, Oct 2 - Lately, Su Mudaerji's dreams have been mainly about fighting. Sometimes, he wakes replaying imagined rounds. On other nights, his subconscious takes him back to the Tibetan plateau, riding a horse and eating a barbecue under an open sky.

That tension between the grind he has built his life around and the mountains he left behind has defined the rise of Su Mudaerji, the first Tibetan UFC fighter, nicknamed the Tibetan Eagle and known to his fans as Sumu.

The 30-year-old flyweight earned a unanimous decision at Shanghai Oriental Sports Center in August in front of the UFC's biggest-ever crowd in Asia, a victory that moved him to 11th in the franchise's global rankings.

Sumu grew up helping his family plant potatoes, corn and watermelons in western China's Sichuan province, in a region populated largely by ethnic Tibetans. He never dreamed he would make it to the UFC, the world's leading mixed martial arts franchise.

"I'd watched UFC fights," he said. "I just didn't dare to even imagine myself in it."

His success has brought responsibility.

"More kids in Tibetan areas are now taking up MMA and looking to me as a role model," he said. "So every step I take matters."

Those expectations were evident in Shanghai.

"I was so nervous my throat went hoarse from shouting," said Puzhaxi, a Tibetan fan who flew to Shanghai just to watch Sumu compete. "He is the only Tibetan fighter, so of course I wanted him to win even more."

UFC brought its first event to China in 2017 and has amassed a following of nearly 18 million on social media, said Kevin Chang, UFC's APAC executive.

"To being welcome in cities all around China to host events, to having a huge and very hungry fan base camped outside our door right now, waiting for a glimpse or an autograph ... These are the kinds of things that weren't happening 10, 15 years ago," Chang said.

Fighters such as Zhang Weili, who won the women's strawweight title in 2019 to become China's first UFC champion, have helped boost the sport and Sumu aims to win his first championship within three years.

"My hope is that one day, when people in China talk about the UFC, they can say, 'Oh, China has a men’s champion’s belt too',” Sumu said. REUTERS