China’s Zhang Mingyang enters his first UFC main event on Saturday.
The #14-ranked UFC Light Heavyweight has quickly made a name for themselves in the world’s premier MMA promotion, where he has won his first three fights by knockout.
‘Mountain Tiger’ Zhang Mingyang introduced himself to the American fans in April when he left former title challenger Anthony Smith in a pool of his own blood for his retirement fight. This was Mingyang’s U.S. debut and 19th career finish.
Now, the 27-year-old Zhang is set to take on #13-ranked contender Johnny Walker in the headliner of UFC Shanghai.
Ahead of the massive opportunity, Zhang revealed who people sometimes mistake him for.
Zhang Mingyang says Yao Ming is his celebrity lookalike
Living in China, Zhang admits he doesn’t get a whole lot of attention yet, but when he does, it’s because of someone else.
Despite the fact he’s 6’2″, Zhang says people have confused him for 7’6″ NBA legend Yao Ming.
“Sometimes people [think] I’m Yao Ming,” Zhang told Home of Fight.
Yao played center for the Houston Rockets for nine seasons from 2002 to 2011. One of the tallest basketball players of all time, the Chinese NBA All-Star was inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame in 2016.
Their countryman Zhang will look to get more worldwide recognition with his 20th career finish in the five-round main event of UFC Shanghai against Johnny Walker.
Odds have changed drastically for UFC Shanghai co-main event
The odds for Brian Ortega vs. Aljamain Sterling are much different than they were earlier this week.
Ortega’s look at Friday’s weigh-ins was likely to blame for the odds going into Sterling’s favor in the UFC Shanghai co-main event.
Ortega was supposed to weigh in at featherweight on Friday, but the UFC called a last-minute audible, with the fight proceeding at a catchweight of 153 lbs instead.
Ortega looked drained on the scale and the two-time title challenger now stands as a three-to-one underdog against the former bantamweight champion Sterling.
Sterling is as high as a -500 favorite on some sportsbooks as of this writing.