Martial Arts Livestreaming
Chapter 316 - 287 Wu Li: I Want to Hear You Sing

Chapter 316: Chapter 287 Wu Li: I Want to Hear You Sing

Arthur Stadium was silent for a few seconds, a true silence. As Wu Li turned his back on Charles, walked to the center of the octagon, then turned around and stretched out his hand pointing at Charles, almost everyone present subconsciously opened their mouths wide and held their breath.

At a UFC event, the crowd is always noisy, always full of passion, because experiencing the thrilling sensation of fist against flesh up close is something viewers behind screens can never imagine. Thus the noise at the venue is usually wave upon wave, and this kind of collective loss of voice had never happened before.

One second, two seconds... many in the crowd hazarded a guess at what was to come, but still found it hard to believe until the third second.

Bang!

The sound of a heavy object falling to the ground — Charles had plummeted down.

Everyone on-site was surprised, astonished, shocked, and finally, exhilarated.

Boom!

It was like a mountain peak crashing into a previously calm lake, causing waves to surge sky-high, exploding the venue’s noise!

Mikel and his son Booker exchanged a glance; both felt a shiver run down their spines in that instant, especially Mikel, who felt something piercing through his body, sending shivers from head to toe, his skin breaking out in goosebumps.

This feeling was familiar only from years past when he watched the ’Bad Boy’ and ’Iceman’ duel, and ’Iceman’ suddenly knocked out ’Bad Boy’ with a heavy punch — it was too exhilarating!

"..."

Mikel saw his son shouting something at him, but he couldn’t make it out.

"What did you say?!"

Mikel yelled, unable to hear his own words in the cacophony of the venue.

Booker leaned into Mikel’s ear: "I said, that’s damn cool!"

Mikel nodded, waving his arms energetically like those around him.

"Yeah, that’s damn cool!!"

...

On the octagon, the referee moved forward to check on Charles. It was unnecessary, really; anyone could tell it was a knockout.

The referee quickly stood up, signaling Charles was no longer able to fight.

The noise in the venue could not get any louder, yet when Wu Li saw the referee’s signal, he didn’t retract his pointing finger but instead raised his arm slightly higher, pointing towards the crowd, then spun around on the spot.

Below the octagon, Chen Gang and others familiar with Wu Li were quite surprised at the scene.

Wu Li had always come across more mature and composed than a typical 21-year-old, and apart from occasional sharp edges, he often seemed more like a grandmaster straight out of martial arts films — majestic, dashing, casual, yet wielding mountain-like strength!

Such a person could hardly be seen as a 21-year-old youth.

However, at that moment, Chen Gang felt for the first time a young man’s bravado in Wu Li:

He tilted his head slightly, fingers pointing at the surrounding stands, slowly rotating on the spot, sweeping his gaze across all the spectators, his eyes full of a defiant spirit, even appearing arrogant and overbearing!

But Chen Gang couldn’t help but not feel disgruntled. After thinking it through, he understood: it’s because it was Wu Li, he had the right!

The audience loved Wu Li’s actions too. The noise, already at its peak, climbed even higher, with many screaming their voices hoarse. The sound was so loud it seemed almost capable of flipping the stadium’s roof.

No one knew how long it persisted, but as the noise finally softened, Charles recovered consciousness under the doctor’s brief treatment, looking bewildered.

The host stepped onto the stage to declare Wu Li the winner of the match, stirring up another frenzy in the crowd.

Not until Wu Li stepped down from the ring and the host announced the start of the last match, with the new fighter taking the stage, did the atmosphere gradually cool down.

Then a very strange phenomenon occurred: Although the final headline event was supposed to be the climax of the night, the match that the audience was most looking forward to, the release of their emotions had come prematurely. As a result, when the evening’s biggest star, Spider Silva, made his appearance, the reaction from the crowd was somewhat subdued, less enthusiastic than any of the main matches before it.

Sitting in the front row of the VIP seats, Dana White’s expression turned sour. Wu Li was ranked seventh, indeed because of White’s deliberate interference—he was originally set for the fifth spot. Arranging for Wu Li to fight the lower-ranked, now infamous Charles was also White’s doing.

His intention was to make Wu Li understand that UFC is a commercial league, and without his help, reaching the top would be nothing but a dream!

He had deliberately scheduled Silva’s championship challenge for today, placing Wu Li’s match before Silva’s, to send a message to Wu Li: You are still far from a true legend!

According to his plan, once Silva entered the ring, the enthusiasm of the audience, together with the thrilling quality of the subsequent match, would stand in stark contrast to Wu Li’s performance. The media coverage and the topics hotly debated by the public would certainly focus on Silva. In doing so, Wu Li would surely realize that mere strength is useless; if White wished, he could overshadow any of Wu Li’s future matches with another.

However, White did not anticipate Wu Li’s performance to have such an effect.

If the last match was sensational because it was Wu Li’s first time showcasing Hua Country’s Kung Fu on the stage, the novelty alone had its greatest effect. Coupled with the national characteristics of Hua Country’s Kung Fu, Wu Li had the advantage of perfect timing, location, and people, which was why the first match was such a hit.

For the second match, once the initial novelty had worn off, White did not believe Wu Li could create anything spectacular, yet he was proven wrong.

If the first match’s sensational impact had some element of trickery on Wu Li’s part, then the second match was purely a display of his own genuine strength.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Three punches, identical movements, left the opponent frozen in place, not falling until a few seconds later, as if under a spell. The visual effect was even more striking than the previous match’s flurry of different techniques in a few minutes. It was simple, brutal, perfectly exhibiting the aesthetics of violence with a hint of mystery.

White suddenly remembered an ancient saying from Hua Country, "Circumstances create heroes," which roughly translates to the modern saying, "Even a pig can fly in a strong enough wind." White has always respected this view.

Managing the UFC, he created many stars through hype, continuously increasing the UFC’s popularity—from the brink of bankruptcy to a market value of 70 billion US dollars. Everything showed that White’s views were correct, his methods successful; therefore, he did not believe that Wu Li could make significant waves on his own.

Yet, Wu’s performance today made White recall the opposite of the saying, "Heroes create the times!"

Wu Li today told Dana White with actions: Just give me a stage, and I will become the center of attention. I don’t need you to create momentum for me because I am the momentum!

After a long silence, the exclaims from the crowd around him snapped White out of his thoughts as he returned his gaze to the fight. Spider Silva had won the crowd’s exclamations with his signature dodging moves.

Silva became a legend not only because of his individual strength but also because his matches are highly entertaining: his control over his body is the absolute pinnacle, often employing his uncanny ability to dodge with precision to playfully outmaneuver opponents. Sometimes he could even induce a sense of collapse in his adversaries—they simply did not know how to punch anymore because it seemed that no matter what, they could not connect.

It was precisely this style of continuous provocation on the ring, extreme arrogance yet leaving opponents powerless, that won the hearts of countless fans.

At that moment, Silva once again initiated his provocative mode, reigniting the atmosphere of the venue. Although it was not as electrifying as earlier, it did improve White’s mood considerably.

"After all, it’s just one match. I can still control the situation!"

...

At 9:30 p.m., all of the UFC255 matches had ended, and Silva had once again defeated the challenger, successfully defending his title for the 11th time! With this, he became the UFC fighter with the most title defenses in history, tied with the Flyweight champion Power Mouse, both holding the record for most defenses within the UFC.

However, the Flyweight matches had fewer viewers, and star power couldn’t compare with the higher weight classes. Therefore, in terms of influence, besides the Demon King Jon in the entire UFC, no one could rival Silva.

The next day, under Dana White’s directions, the UFC official website extensively covered Silva’s match from last night, emphasizing that he broke his record, making him the number one in history for title defenses. Implicitly, Wu Li’s match was only mentioned in passing.

Yet everyone who watched the fights last night knew that the real climax of the evening was not Silva’s doing, but Wu Li’s!

The UFC official website might focus on Silva, but other media outlets wouldn’t.

ESPN, America’s most authoritative entertainment and sports television network, headlined today’s sports section with: The Marvel of Hua Country’s Kung Fu!

Besides that, Sports Illustrated, FOX Sports, CBS Sports, and several other authoritative media outlets in the sports field all extensively reported on Wu Li’s match from last night. This prompted many viewers who had missed the live broadcast to look up the fight video online, specifically watching the segment featuring Wu Li’s appearance, witnessing the entire process of his moves, and then marveled at his performance.

On the evening of January 28th, Wu Li held a personal press conference.

This was his first press conference in the United States since becoming famous, with countless media competing to attend.

At the press conference, Wu Li answered some questions, and at the end, he specially addressed all Chinese viewers in Mandarin:

"I didn’t hear you sing last night, which was a bit disappointing. But no worries, I hope on the night I become champion, I’ll hear your songs!"