Martial Arts Livestreaming
Chapter 380 - 348: I Want to Be a Confucian General for Once

Dana White was holding a meeting with a group of UFC executives, a routine monthly meeting.

"The men’s middleweight division currently has too many injuries, we can consider signing some newcomers, or letting some welterweight fighters move up..."

"There are still too few fighters in the men’s heavyweight division, should we consider increasing investment?"

"The ratings for the men’s featherweight championship fight hit a historic low, maybe we should consider raising the profile of the featherweight division..."

"Women’s Strawweight, when do we schedule that Hua Country fighter for her third championship fight?"

"And for the men’s lightweight division, when will Wu Li’s injury heal? If it takes too long, let’s schedule an interim championship fight, Habu has applied many times already."

...

Each issue was raised and then resolved. When the discussion turned to Wu Li, someone suddenly frowned and said, "Hua Country is currently hosting a large mixed martial arts event, organized by Wu Li. I think this could be a major threat to our entry into the Hua Country market."

This topic was broached, and everyone looked at each other.

Another executive spoke up, "Moreover, Roy, ranked third in the welterweight division, proposed to leave the UFC last week. As far as I know, it was Wu Li who poached him!"

"It’s not just Roy, fighters in men’s featherweight, lightweight, and heavyweight divisions have all been poached!"

Within just a month, eight fighters were taken by the same event, which was naturally a topic of discussion.

Dana White looked at the report submitted and felt speechless; Wu Li was still a contracted fighter with the UFC, yet he had started to poach from UFC’s own ranks?

Really, had he gotten too cocky after winning one championship?

But on second thought, UFC really had no leverage over Wu Li right now. As the lightweight champion, plenty of people were lined up to challenge him, and he didn’t need to beg Dana White to arrange fights for him.

Dana White thought it over and spoke, "Regarding this matter, what does everyone think?"

"We must warn Wu Li that such behavior constitutes malicious commercial competition!"

"What’s the use of warning him? He’s the champion now."

"I don’t think there’s a need to be too anxious. It’s just a newly established competition. At most, he’ll poach some fighters that aren’t much in the spotlight. We have as many of those as we want, so if he’s willing to pay a high price, let him do it."

"That’s right. Every year people come to poach our fighters, but it turns out that few of the poached fighters make a name for themselves after leaving UFC. Our star fighters, unless they’re foolish, won’t be poached."

...

After a round of discussion, the majority opinion was consistent: there was no need to worry.

Indeed, as the highest-level and largest-scale mixed martial arts event in the world, there was no need for excessive worry over a new competition. Initially, Asia’s ONE championship spent more money than Wu Li and poached more people, but in the end, UFC still managed to confine them to Asia.

Dana White nodded, "The event organized by Wu Li may not be a threat to us, but it will affect our entry into the Hua Country market. We had planned to open up the Hua Country market through Wu Li, but now that we’ve built him up, he’s competing with us for the market—we must counterattack!"

"So, my suggestion is that we arrange more UFC events in Hua Country, and also promote more Hua Country fighters, we can’t rely solely on Wu Li anymore. Maybe he won’t even re-sign with UFC in the future."

"Since Wu Li has gotten more and more Hua Country viewers interested in fighting competitions, we should seize the opportunity to let these Hua Country people know that UFC is the highest-level mixed martial arts competition in the world! Perhaps in the end, I should thank him for his contributions to UFC," Dana White concluded.

...

July 5, in a resort villa in the suburbs of Imperial City.

In the courtyard, two figures were sparring.

One of them was Guo Dongyang, and the other was Li San.

Guo Dongyang’s offensive was fierce, using fists, feet, elbows, knees, shoulders—any part of his body could be a point of attack, and each strike made the air explode with a booming sound, with astonishing power.

He was already a natural talent with far greater strength than ordinary people, and after more than a year of Bone and Muscle Strengthening, his physical condition had improved considerably. Along with reaching Master Level, his power output had greatly increased, and now, even though Guo Dongyang weighed in at middleweight, the power of his punches was stronger than some heavyweight fighters!

Li San seemed like a solitary leaf in the midst of a storm during his exchange with Guo Dongyang, as if he could be engulfed by the formidable onslaught at any moment. However, despite appearing to be in extreme danger, Li San was somehow unharmed.

Every time, he managed to catch Guo Dongyang’s attacks in time and then diverted the incoming blows.

Wu Li nodded to himself from the sidelines. After a two-month break for recovery, Li San’s injuries had healed, and he even seemed to have improved. Therefore, despite Guo Dongyang’s significant progress over the past two months, he was steadily suppressed by Li San.

A few moves later, Li San found an opportunity, used Borrowing Force to Strike, broke Guo Dongyang’s balance, and then punched him back.

"Good!"

There was applause from the surrounding crowd, the students who were still staying in the holiday resort.

Out of a hundred students, only eleven remained, including Guo Dongyang, Gao Jianping, Dong Yunfei, and the four chosen at the start to be Wu Li’s bodyguards, like Xu Chuan.

The extremely high elimination rate had put immense pressure on the students, and those who remained had entirely different attitudes from two months ago. If they were like harmless sheep before, they now at least resembled fierce wolves.

All these individuals were Seventh Rank in National Martial Arts and formed the elite group of students from Bo Yuan Martial Arts Hall. Among them, five had an Overall Score of A, and even the lowest was a B+ (6%).

It’s worth noting that a B+ rating implies that they could have a place in the UFC and even aim for the top fifteen rankings.

After being knocked back, Guo Dongyang left the floor with a frustrated face, and Wu Li stepped out. It was just an entertaining break, and it was time to go back to training.

"In the coming week, our main focus will be on studying our opponents. I’ve invited many top fighters from Asia’s ONE and the UFC for the competition. You might face these individuals, so we need to study them in advance."

Having said this, Wu Li led the students to an indoor room.

Inside the room were a projector, a screen, and several foreigners.

"These are coaches from the top three professional fighting clubs in the United States. In the coming period, they will help analyze the opponents you might face in the competition and craft strategies for you," Wu Li explained.

The Yanhuang Competition was scheduled for July 20th. The registration had closed, and the competitors were confirmed. Therefore, Wu Li had gathered all the information on non-Bo Yuan fighters in advance and recruited professional strategic analysts from the three major clubs to help with the analysis.

He had realized the importance of pre-competition analysis from Li Tongyun, so he wanted to ensure his fighters were as prepared as possible.

"I heard that the next UFC event is set for the end of July, just ten days after Yanhuang. They’ve also chosen Hua Country for the location, obviously trying to ride on your event’s popularity."

While the students began their strategic analysis classes, Li San and Wu Li chatted outside the building.

With Yanhuang taking place, the interest of Hua Country’s audience in fighting competitions had increased. By UFC holding an event in Hua Country at this time, they were clearly capitalizing on the momentum. This also let the Hua Country audience compare the quality of Yanhuang Competition against UFC.

One had to admit, Dana White’s choice was as shrewd as always.

Wu Li smiled, "Let him hold his event if he wants to."

Li San looked at Wu Li, "It’s not just UFC. Your competition must be threatening the local fighting events too, haven’t they reacted?"

Wu Li replied, "Oh yes, a bunch of them signed up for the Yanhuang Competition, presumably hoping to block our fighters during the competition."

"Wow." Li San uttered in amazement, "Your event really stirs up trouble from all sides."

Wu Li looked into the distance at the sky and said with a smile, "You know that I’ve usually solved problems with brute force in the past, right?"

"Hm?"

Li San hesitated for a moment, thinking to himself that as a martial artist, if not solving problems with force, then what else—argue with reason?

"Us, in ancient times, could have been heralded as unrivaled generals, right?" asked Wu Li.

Li San inquired, "What are you trying to say?"

Wu Li smiled and said, "This time, since I cannot enter the arena, I want to be a ’scholarly general.’"

"Scholarly general?"

"Yes, with easy grace, to turn the tide of battle!"