5 Things You Might Not Know About Mingyang Zhang

Mingyang Zhang does not intend to be used as cannon fodder by a former Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight contender on his way out.

The “Mountain Tiger” will face the retiring Anthony Smith in the UFC on ESPN 66 co-main event this Saturday at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri. Zhang, 26, has rattled off 11 consecutive victories, all of them finishes inside one round. He last suited up at UFC Fight Night 248, where he buried onetime Legacy Fighting Alliance champion Osman Diaz with a first-round elbow strike and follow-up punches on Nov. 23.

As Zhang moves ever closer to his forthcoming clash with Smith at 205 pounds, here are five things you might not know about him:

1. His was a baptism by fire.

Zhang made his professional mixed martial arts debut at the age of 16 on Dec. 30, 2014, when he submitted to a Qingtao Han guillotine choke in the second round of their encounter under the Chinese Kung Fu Championships banner. He went on to compile a 5-4 record across his nine assignments as a teenager.

2. He has conditioned audiences not to blink.

Twenty-three of the Fuyang, China, native’s 24 career bouts—all 18 of his wins and five of his six losses—have concluded inside the distance. The one outlier? Zhang wound up on the wrong side of a three-round unanimous decision against Koji Shikuwa at a Kunlun Fight show in 2017.

3. He pays attention to detail.

Zhang reps the Xinjiang Fight Gym but also trains extensively at the UFC Performance Institute and Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas, where he has regular access to a number of high-profile coaches and training partners. They include former UFC middleweight titleholder Sean Strickland and 2022 Professional Fighters League welterweight champion Sadibou Sy.

4. His skills pay the bills.

An explosive offensive fighter with a penchant for the spectacular, Zhang has pocketed $50,000 in each of his two outings inside the Octagon: the aforementioned rout of Diaz and a first-round knockout of ex-Shooto Brazil titlist Brendson Ribeiro at UFC 298 in February 2024.

5. Limited travel has marked his rise.

Zhang has only fought twice outside of Asia. He took care of Nadir Ishakov with punches in the first round of their April 27, 2019 pairing at Tatfight 9 in Kazan, Russia, and bested Ribeiro at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.