Chapter 398: "Warmly" Welcome to Hero Xiang
Known as the "New York of the Southern Hemisphere", Australia's largest city, Sydney, is the capital of New South Wales. With an area of 2,400 square kilometers, located on the low hills of Jackson Bay, it was named after the then British Home Secretary Viscount Sydney, and is the center of Australia's economy, finance, shipping and tourism, and a world-famous international metropolis.
Now this cosmopolitan metropolis is full of giant posters of their national hero, the full-name idol "Five Star Brother" Robert Vitekel, and it seems that the whole city is preparing for this upcoming UFC championship bout, looking forward to the arrival of March 18th.
Because on that day, their national idol "Five-Star Brother" Robert Vitekel will face his first title defense at the Superdome Multi-Purpose Stadium, and his opponent is Chinese fighter Xiang Hero, who has been dubbed "Fighting Tyrant" by the media.
Australians are no strangers to Xiang Hero, and Australia, which has a strong martial arts culture, has long been concerned about Xiang Hero, believing that this Chinese fighter, who is younger than Robert Viteker, will definitely be Robert Viteker's worst enemy, but they did not expect that in just one year, their prediction will come true.
The reason why Australia can have such a strong competition atmosphere is because since 2010, Australian competition has become an indispensable country for the UFC overseas market.
So far, the next UFC tournament has been held in Australia, and many big-name fighters have left classic fights on this clay continent that can be recorded in the history of the UFC, bringing many fond memories to Australians.
UFC 110 on February 21, 2010, Australia's UFC debut, in which Mike "The Earl" Bispin spat on Windray Silva before the fight, causing the angry "Axe Killer" to vow to make the British Earl pay for this match. In the end, Silva defeated the British Earl by unanimous decision.
On December 7, 2013, in the UFC Fight Night event, Mark "Fat" Hunt vs. Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva.
It's hard to imagine what it would be like for two of the heaviest fighters in the UFC today to play a full 25 minutes, but the matchup between the two veterans is not only considered the best fight ever held in Australia, but also the most classic heavyweight showdown in UFC history.
Both men hit each other's chins with multiple heavy blows during the match, but neither was able to stop their opponents. The 25-minute battle showed the world what it means to "leave everything in the Octagon", and the final draw was the only fair outcome for both men.
It was a great match, but it wasn't the most memorable race for Australians. The most memorable event for Australian fans was the fight between Ronda "The Harden Queen" Ronda "The Harden Queen" and Holly Holm in UFC 193 on November 15, 2015.
No one was bullish on Holm before the bout, as Ronda "The Armbar Queen" Rossi is invincible, and fans from Australia and around the world are convinced of that.
But when the bout got underway, people saw a dismal Rossi, who was knocked out of the first round by Holm and lost the first round of her career on points.
Less than a minute into the second round, Rossi was stumbled by an elbow from Holm, and she was knocked down by a high left kick from Holm that followed up with no more than a minute into the second round.
Holm knocked out Ronda Rossi in his third UFC bout, and it may be something that no one will ever be able to do again.
At this moment, the whole world was in an uproar, and the Australian fans at the scene watched this scene even more dumbfounded, and it was only at this moment that they realized that there is no winning general in this world.
As a result, these Australian fans scoffed at Xiang Hero's all-out winning record. They believe that only fighters who have tried the taste of failure and got back up again are real fighters.
Just like their hero, Robert Vitekel. Also in Australia, in the UFC Fight Night event on November 7, 2014, Robert Viteker, who has a UFC record of 1 win and 2 losses, did the opposite, instead of the usual choice to drop weight to get back on track when the record is not good, but chose to move up to middleweight to challenge himself, and has a great posture of being put to death.
Perhaps to God, Robert Vitekel seemed to be a different person after gaining weight, and at the 2:43 mark of the second round, he scored a knee to win Clint Hester, and the opponent was still dropped from the light heavyweight division.
Since then, Robert Vitekel has been steadily playing steadily, step by step, to this day, standing at the highest point of the UFC middleweight division.
All Australian fans regard Robert Vitekel's back-to-back fight as a classic, believing that Robert Vitekel is a warrior who is not afraid of any difficulties and dares to take on any challenge, and is definitely not comparable to a Chinese fighter who has not experienced any setbacks and only fought five UFC fights.
One is that the heroes are challenging their own fighters, and the other is Australia's deep-seated prejudice against China, coupled with the fanning of the Australian media. Australian fans are very disgusted with Xiang Hero.
And this antipathy intensified as the time of the game approached, and before we knew it, our big hero was very honored to become the public enemy of Australia.
In such a situation, the hero who did not know, or did not expect such a serious situation, arrived at Sydney International Airport on the afternoon of March 2, accompanied by eight team members led by Coach Luo An, at the top team training camp in the United States, accompanied by director Maizi and two photographers.
As soon as Xiang Yingying and Coach Luo An walked out of the exit passage of the airport, they saw a lot of fans and media gathered in the airport hall. When they approached,
In an instant, it was greeted by more than 50 fans, who not only pulled "welcome" banners, but also held colorful posters, constantly shouting slogans to defeat Xiang Hero.
Even Xiang Yingying, who has been booed many times by the fans in the United States, was stunned after seeing this scene, and had to admire the people of this red land.
Luo An and the others didn't expect Xiang Yingying to be so "popular", and they all looked at Xiang Yingying with a wry smile, while Emily asked curiously in Xiang Yingying's ear, "What kind of angry things have you done in Australia?" ”
In this regard, Xiang Yingying could only make a neck wipe gesture to the Australian media watching the excitement on the sidelines with a frosty face.
Well, some very extreme boxing fans saw that Xiang Yingying dared to make such a provocative move, and immediately blew up, scolding Xiang Yingying, and quickly surrounded him.
Seeing this, Luo An's face changed greatly, and he and his team members quickly protected Xiang Yingying firmly in the middle.