September 7, New York UFC Training Center.
This is a five-story building with various sized training rooms, an indoor swimming pool, and lounges...
On the ground floor lobby, thirty-seven contestants had already assembled; each stood in their own space without talking, surrounded by caras.
Wu Li was in a corner speaking to a cara.
"Hello everyone, welco to the sixth episode of ’Seeking Martial Arts,’ where we will be live broadcasting my entire process of participating in the UFC selection."
"Including myself, there are thirty-seven contestants here. Over the next two weeks, we will train, compete, and the few who perform the best will qualify to sign with the UFC."
Wu Li had announced his participation in the TUF Ultimate Fighting two days earlier, and by now, the live stream had already gathered 130,000 viewers.
"Why even participate in a selection? Aren’t your skills enough to sign directly with the UFC?"
"Exactly, are the folks at UFC blind to let Wu Li participate in so selection competition?"
"No choice, Wu Li hasn’t fought in many matches, only won a local championship; UFC definitely couldn’t sign him directly."
"I think it’s good; it’s necessary to fight step by step to shut up so critics!"
"I just want to know what the rules of this selection competition are?"
...
Many people in Hua Country knew about UFC but few knew about TUF, just like basketball fans watch the NBA, but few pay attention to its developnt league below.
TUF, as a UFC selection competition, relatively has lower attention. This ti, letting Wu Li start from TUF was partly due to his track record and partly to boost TUF’s fa.
After chatting with the live stream viewers for a while, soone holding a microphone ca down the stairs.
"Hello everyone, welco here, my na is Danny."
The person stood on the steps above, looking down at the crowd.
He spoke in English, which Wu Li could only understand roughly, but luckily the ’Seeking Martial Arts’ team had prepared a translator for him, now translating simultaneously in his ear.
"In the next two weeks, you all will train and compete here, and at the end, the most outstanding perforrs will get a chance to sign with the UFC," Danny said.
"Of course, following TUF tradition, you will be grouped and trained by two ntors."
Upon hearing this, the previously quiet crowd started to buzz.
The TUF Ultimate Fighting ntorship battles are a significant feature; it is, after all, a variety show aid at increasing viewer ratings and interest. UFC often invites famous UFC fighters as ntors, and previous TUF selections even had the current champions.
For these contestants dreaming of making it into the UFC, those famous UFC fighters were undoubtedly their goals or idols. Thus, hearing Danny say this, almost everyone beca excited.
Well, except for Wu Li...
He didn’t really watch UFC matches, so he wasn’t very familiar with those UFC legends.
"I wonder who they’ll invite this season?"
"Last season it was Earl and Red Hair."
"Will they invite a champion this ti?"
"I hope Spider cos!"
...
In Wu Li’s live stream room, so regular UFC match spectators began excitedly discussing.
"Everyone, before you et this season’s two ntors, you need to pass a small test," Danny said with a smile.
As he finished speaking, a staff mber wheeled a device next, placing it beside the stairs.
It was a machine about 1.75 ters tall and 1 ter wide, resembling a rectangular steel plate, with 12 round targets evenly distributed on it; on the far-right side were two display screens.
"Would anyone like to volunteer to demonstrate for ?" Danny asked as he walked down the stairs.
After a mont’s hesitation, a Caucasian contestant stepped forward; he was about 1.8 ters tall with tattoos from his neck down to his arms.
"Great, what’s your na?" Danny handed the microphone to him.
"Gusta, from Sweden," he replied.
"Gusta, let show you how to use this device," Danny led him to the machine, pointing at the targets, "There are twelve targets here, each with an indicator light above, do you see?"
Gusta nodded.
"Whenever an indicator light goes on, you need to quickly hit the corresponding target; each hit scores points, and hitting the wrong one deducts points. Note that the top six targets must be hit with boxing punches, and the lower six only with kicks."
"Your accurate hits will be converted into scores, which will be your speed score; and each impact you make on the targets will also be converted into scores, which will be your power score. The higher both scores, the better, so you need to be accurate, fast, and powerful in every hit. Did I make myself clear?"
Danny looked at Gusta who nodded in understanding.
"OK, if you’re ready, I’ll count down to start," said Danny as he stepped to the side.
Gusta raised his arms, standing about a step away from the machine, and nodded, "I’m ready."
"Go!"
As soon as the words fell, an indicator light on the first row of the machine lit up.
Bang! Gusta delivered a straight punch hitting the corresponding target. From the sound, it was evident the punch was powerful; on the far-right display screens, a ’1’ appeared on the top display and a ’1.2’ on the bottom.
The others, witnessing this, could likely guess that the upper number represented the count of hits, while the lower number represented the power of the hits.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Three more punches. With the change of the indicator lights, Gusta accurately hit three targets.
The numbers on the display above had turned to 4, the numbers below to 4.5.
"It doesn’t look too hard."
Just as this thought rose in many people’s minds, two lights suddenly lit up on the device in front of Gusta.
Boom! Boom!
Without hesitation, Gusta landed punches on the targets, one following the other, but this ti the scores for strength were only 1 each.
The next second, three lights lit up simultaneously, with one on the fourth row below, which required a kick to hit the target.
Gusta quickly threw two punches and then kicked the target on the fourth row.
This ti his strength score was even lower, at 0.9 for all three hits.
As the test progressed, the difficulty increased, the lights lit up faster, and more lights lit up at the sa ti—three, four, at most even five lights!
Gusta missed more and more targets, and it beca rare for him to score above 1 after hitting a target.
As ti passed, Gusta’s punches started to slow down, and he missed even more targets.
Ding! A minute later, a bell rang.
"Okay, ti’s up!" Danny suddenly shouted from the side.
As he finished speaking, Gusta stopped, breathing slightly, and looked toward the display beside him.
The numbers on display showed 58 on top and 40.6 on the bottom.
"Gusta, your total score for this test is 98.6, but to pass and go upstairs to et the instructor, you need a minimum score of 120," Danny said, holding the microphone and smiling.
Gusta’s face turned red; he hadn’t expected to be so far from the minimum requirent.
"Can I try again?" he asked hurriedly.
"Of course," Danny smiled, "This test doesn’t count, but rember, each of you only has three chances. If soone still can’t pass after three attempts, I’m sorry, but you’ll be eliminated and won’t participate in the upcoming training and competition."
The venue erupted in shock; who would have thought they’d face elimination on their very first day?
"Wow, this TUF Ultimate Fighting session is interesting. We’ve never done this before!"
"This looks a bit hard. It requires speed, strength, and accuracy."
"Interesting, I wonder what score Wu Li can achieve?"
"What if only one or two people pass? Would the show end on the first day?"
"Haha, that’s not likely, right?"
...
Wu Li’s live streaming room was bustling with discussion, and the contestants around him also began to warm up.
"Anyone who wishes may co forward to attempt," Danny said.
"I’ll go!"
One contestant volunteered and began the challenge.
A minute later, their speed score was 70, strength score 38.5, making a total of 108.5, still not enough to pass.
Then ca the next contestant.
This contestant did not rush their punches but made sure each punch and kick was powerful.
They attempted to achieve victory through higher strength scores, resulting in a speed score of 43 and a strength score of 64.5, a total of 107.5 points, still failing to pass.
During this process, people noticed that the highest strength score achievable was only 1.5, and no matter how hard the hitters tried, they couldn’t exceed 1.5.
That ant, despite the emphasis on punch strength, ensuring speed was equally crucial.
While so could throw over a hundred punches a minute with no target, just randomly swinging, this device demanded precise hits, included kicks, and each indicator light only stayed on for two seconds before turning off—the challenge was undoubtedly significant.
After another seven contestants had failed, a young man with dyed orange hair stepped forward; he was around 1.75 ters tall and appeared not very robust, even slightly skinny.
The crowd stirred a bit, as quite a few people recognized this young contestant.
Xiaoze Wutian, a contestant prominently featured in the pre-TUF promotional videos, so many recognized him.
"It’s Xiaoze Wutian."
"Who?"
"He’s from Japan, known as a once-in-five-hundred-years fighting prodigy."
"Haha, that’s typical of Japan, always claiming a ’once-in-hundreds-years’ or even ’once-in-two-thousand-years’ beauty."
"But this Xiaoze Wutian is genuinely skilled. He’s the youngest world champion in Japan’s K1 martial arts competition and has won titles across two different weight classes, including beating a heavyweight champion. He’s currently one of the most prominent combat sports athletes in Japan."
Viewers in the live streaming room were also familiar with Xiaoze Wutian and took the chance to educate others.
anwhile, Xiaoze Wutian stood in front of the device, ready to take on the challenge.
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