"The famous Kung Fu master from Hua Country, Wu Li, had previously signed a contract with the Mixed Martial Arts event UFC. Yesterday, the UFC official website released news that Wu Li’s first match in UFC is likely to be against the current sixth-ranked lightweight, Dan Hu..."
After the news about Wu Li in UFC was updated, major news websites in Hua Country all published related news.
Nowadays, Wu Li’s popularity in the country has surpassed that of most top-tier celebrities. Logically, as soone who is not involved in the entertainnt industry, without any scandals or works, just doing live streaming Variety shows and taking the combat sports route, he shouldn’t have reached this level, but Wu Li was just too controversial.
The reason why the live streaming Variety show "Seeking Martial Arts" has beco a phenonal program in the country is largely due to the explosive, dramatic nature with interesting highlights in each episode; and as the ultimate protagonist of "Seeking Martial Arts," Wu Li creates a ’buzzworthy mont’ every now and then, imnsely satisfying the spectators and keeping his popularity consistently high.
Celebrities in the entertainnt circle try all ans to create ’hype’ for themselves to occasionally attract public attention and boost their visibility. Unlike them, Wu Li isn’t considered a part of the entertainnt industry, yet his presence is overwhelmingly huge: from the start of "Seeking Martial Arts" in April to now in October, half a year’s ti, Wu Li has been trending almost every month, always among the top three, with the popularity lasting at least a week. Such a phenonon has never been seen in Hua Country’s entertainnt industry over so many years.
When the news of the terrorist attack in the United States on September 22 reached Hua Country, Wu Li took heroic action and briefly beca a superhero till early October. The intensity of this matter only decreased slightly due to the National Day celebrations. And before things cald down, on October 8, the news of that talk show where two top female celebrities publicly confessed their feelings again thrilled the spectators of Hua Country.
The na Wu Li has almost beco a symbol in Hua Country, periodically surfacing to make waves.
...
Shenzhen, the headquarters of Tencent.
A man browsed through the news on a webpage, then thought for a mont and picked up the phone on his desk.
"Lao Hu, co to my office."
He hung up the phone and continued browsing the information on the webpage. In front of his desk was a naplate: Zhang Dongming.
Below the na was a line of text: Head of the Strategic Departnt.
After a while, a slightly bald, middle-aged man wearing glasses and in work attire walked into Zhang Dongming’s office.
"Director Zhang, you called for ?"
Zhang Dongming looked up and said, "Sit."
After the man sat down, Zhang Dongming moved his gaze away from the computer screen: "Lao Hu, you know about Wu Li, right?"
Lao Hu nodded: "The one from the ’Seeking Martial Arts’ live show? I know."
Zhang Dongming: "He recently signed with UFC and is about to have his first match. Do you know about this?"
Lao Hu shook his head: "I haven’t really paid attention to that."
Zhang Dongming: "With his current popularity, the number of people watching the match dostically is likely to increase significantly."
Lao Hu paused, then tentatively asked, "So, are you considering the broadcasting rights for UFC?"
Zhang Dongming nodded with satisfaction. Lao Hu was a subordinate he had promoted himself, always able to keep up with his thoughts, the kind to get it with just a hint.
"Combat sports have always been lukewarm in the dostic market with limited audience numbers, so we haven’t held it in high regard. Previously, because of Wu Li, a wave of Kung Fu craze was stirred up dostically. Old Sun and others even held a eting to discuss this matter and submitted a proposal to , but I rejected it, thinking that despite Wu Li’s popularity, it’s still hard to significantly influence an industry."
Zhang Dongming spoke slowly, his speaking pace naturally slow since becoming a leader, becoming slower with higher positions, sotis driving people a bit crazy, however, having followed him for so many years, Lao Hu was used to it and didn’t interrupt, listening patiently.
"However, it now seems, I might have underestimated Wu Li’s influence. Because of him alone, the dostic audience following UFC matches could potentially increase by millions," Zhang Dongming remarked with so emotion.
Lao Hu thought for a mont and said, "If I rember correctly, PPTV’s contract with UFC is about to expire soon, and they need to start negotiations for renewal, right?"
Among several major video platforms in Hua Country, only PPTV had the broadcasting rights for UFC; the rest didn’t acquire it. Although Lao Hu didn’t pay much attention to UFC, as a senior manager at Tencent’s strategic headquarters, he was well-inford about such matters.
Zhang Dongming: "Right, it expires next March, and negotiations for renewal definitely need to happen this year."
Lao Hu: "Should we let the people from Penguin Sports contact UFC?"
Zhang Dongming pondered for a mont: "That’s why I called you here. The focus of Penguin Sports has always been on the NBA, and they have never ventured into combat sports before. But seeing the current trend, the audience for combat sports might increase significantly because of Wu Li. You go back and put together a plan, get the people from Penguin Sports’ strategic departnt involved too, and give a preliminary proposal within a week regarding purchasing UFC’s broadcasting rights."
Lao Hu nodded: "Understood."
Zhang Dongming smiled: "I have a feeling that Youku might also get involved, and they are likely considering buying it exclusively."
"If that’s the case, PPTV might have to pay a hefty price this ti," Lao Hu also smiled.
For sports broadcasting, Penguin Sports, U-Cool, and PPTV are the three main players; each has its own focus. Previously, combat sports were niche in our country, with only PPTV holding the broadcasting rights, and even those weren’t a priority. Now, Penguin and U-Cool both might join the battle for the UFC broadcasting rights, which is quite a stir within the industry.
"If all three of us quote for the UFC, Wu Li’s status within the UFC will instantly skyrocket. Isn’t this like all three platforms are lifting him up together? Not many stars in our country get such treatnt," Old Hu suddenly said.
Zhang Dongming shook his head. "He’s not just a re star, rember the Bo Yuan Company? There are already over fifty martial arts halls nationwide, and the net profit in just six months has exceeded one billion. Wu Li is the chairman of that company."
Old Hu was stunned for a mont, then said with a sense of amazent, "Isn’t this Wu Li still in university? Hearing you say this, I really feel like I’ve wasted so many years."
...
On October 11th, in a private room of a Chinese restaurant in New York, Wu Li t with Dana White, the current president of UFC—an affable, bald man.
"This is Tom, my senior advisor," Dana introduced the man beside him.
Tom briefly introduced himself in fluent Chinese; he was mainly responsible for translating for the two today.
Today’s eting was a private invitation from Dana, so Wu Li ca alone, without bringing anyone else.
"The Hua Country dishes in this restaurant are quite good. I’ve already ordered a few specialty dishes. Take a look at the nu," Dana signaled the waiter to hand Wu Li the nu.
Wu Li didn’t look for long, choosing a few dishes at random.
While the dishes were being served, Dana and Wu Li made casual conversation. Despite being the president of UFC, Dana was very down-to-earth and talkative, discussing many topics related to Hua Country’s Kung Fu in detail, showing that he’d done his research and making sure the conversation was engaging, not awkward.
Wu Li was actually surprised to receive the invitation, knowing that Dana and many star fighters in UFC have good personal relationships. There’s even a saying in UFC that if you haven’t been invited to dinner by Dana, you’re not famous enough; yet Wu Li hadn’t even fought a single match, and surprisingly Dana was already inviting him for a al.
During the al, Wu Li clearly noticed that Dana and Tom were struggling with Hua Country’s chopsticks.
"Uh, why don’t you switch to forks? I won’t mind," Wu Li suggested.
"Ha ha ha, the cutlery from your country must be the most difficult in the world, right?" Dana laughed, no longer troubling himself and asked the server for forks.
He had actually wanted to switch to forks earlier but waited out of respect for Wu Li until he suggested it.
After the al, the three went to a separate lounge to start discussing serious matters.
"Wu, I really think highly of you," Dana started straightforwardly.
Wu Li looked at him, waiting for him to continue.
"Your personal strength and image are well suited for the UFC stage," Dana said. "Honestly, your performance in TUF had already impressed , and your showing on September 22nd was truly stunning."
"If it were an unrestricted real fight, I think even UFC’s heavyweight fighters would probably not be your match."
Dana gave a very high appraisal; everyone knows UFC’s heavyweight fighters are considered among the strongest barehanded fighters in the world.
"Thank you," Wu Li said calmly, neither humbly nor arrogantly.
Dana was slightly surprised; he thought, considering this young man was only twenty-one and had shown so youthful arrogance before, shouldn’t Wu Li show so pride from such high praise? Or was his reaction too mild?
Actually, Dana was mistaken. In Wu Li’s heart, he always considered sports competition and real combat as two different things. His own combat ability being stronger than those sports fighters wasn’t sothing to boast about. It’s like telling an ace sniper from the army that they definitely have better killing power on the battlefield than an Olympic shooting champion—it didn’t hit the mark...
"However, UFC fights are still restricted and ruled. As far as I know, you haven’t had much experience in the ring. If your first fight is truly with fighters at Dan Hu’s level, what do you think?" Dana asked.
Although the news was out that Wu Li’s first match might be against Dan Hu, neither side had definitely agreed, so the match wasn’t set yet.
"I have no objections," Wu Li replied directly.
Of course, he wouldn’t object; fighting higher-ranked fighters right from the start is the fastest way to gain fa.
"Do you think you can win?" Dana smiled.
Wu Li smiled back, "If I say I can win, Mr. Dana, would you believe ?"
Dana leaned slightly forward, looking directly at Wu Li, "Wu, when I said I really think highly of you, it wasn’t a joke. I truly believe you can influence an industry, at least in your country!"
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