After falling short at UFC Shanghai, what’s next for Mingyang Zhang?

This past Saturday in the main event of UFC Shanghai, we saw a big time matchup in the light heavyweight division. China’s top up and comer Mingyang Zhang (19-7) was looking to continue his incredible finishing streak as he took on Johnny Walker (22-9, 1 NC).

If we are being honest with ourselves, this was supposed to be a showcase fight for Zhang. He was on this incredible 12-fight first round finish streak and with him being from China, this event was taking place with the hope of taking him to the next level.

While Johnny Walker still has some name value, he’s not looked at as a legitimate threat to the top guys at 205 and he had been brutally knocked out in two straight fights. All that being said, I thought we were in for another Zhang finish at UFC Shanghai.

Boy, was I and many pundits wrong. Zhang did start out well and I thought he did a good job landing big shots in the first round. However, he was taking a lot of powerful leg kicks from Johnny Walker. He wasn’t doing anything to check the kicks and that was his downfall.

In the second round, Walker landed a thudding kick that sent Zhang to the mat. Walker unloaded with big shots and the fight was stopped completely derailing the Zhang hype train and silencing the Chinese crowd.

What’s next after UFC Shanghai?

This is a big blow to Mingyang Zhang and honestly, the UFC. With Zhang Weili, the promotion has a superstar champion from China on the women’s side. However, they don’t have a legit top contender or championship threat on the men’s side.

Zhang was looked at as someone who could be that and boy was this a flop of a performance. Now, there are real questions around whether or not he can be a legitimate contender at 205. So, what should the UFC do with him next?

I think we need to go outside the rankings for this one and take a step back. A name I like for Zhang’s next fight is Dustin Jacoby. Jacoby has won two in a row which has him knocking on the door of the rankings. Zhang has the last spot in the rankings and I think a fight between these two makes a lot of sense.