5 Defining Moments: Jingliang Li

Having already surpassed even the most optimistic projections for his Ultimate Fighting Championship career, Jingliang Li still has designs on joining the welterweight elite.

“The Leech” will toe the line against Tony Ferguson in the UFC 279 co-headliner on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Li, 34, has alternated wins and losses in each of his past four appearances. He last competed at UFC on ABC 3, where he dispatched Russian sanda stylist Muslim Salikhov with punches and elbows in the second round of their July 16 pairing and improved to 11-5 inside the Octagon.

As Li makes final preparations for his forthcoming clash with Ferguson at 170 pounds, a look at five of the many moments that have come to define him:

1. Championship Mettle

The Tiequan Zhang protégé laid claim to the Legend Fighting Championship welterweight crown when he submitted Luke Jumeau with a guillotine choke in the third round of their LFC 11 co-main event on April 27, 2013 at Chin Woo Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Jumeau conceded defeat 3:38 into Round 3. Li controlled wide swaths of a back-and-forth first round in which both men progressed to full mount, though he had to slam his way out of a tight triangle choke on multiple occasions. The pace slowed somewhat in the second, where Jumeau advanced to the back and secured himself with a body triangle, only to be stood up from the dominant position in a puzzling decision by referee Kim Lee Tan. Li escaped triangle and guillotine attempts from the Kiwi in Round 3, executed a takedown, sprawled on a subsequent scramble and bit down on his counterpart’s exposed neck. He then tightened the squeeze on his own guillotine and prompted the tapout with Jumeau partially entangled in the ropes.

2. Breaking the Ice

Li made a successful Octagon debut when he eked out a split decision against “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 16 alum David Michaud as part of the UFC 173 undercard on May 24, 2014 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Two of the three judges—Junichiro Kamijo and Tony Weeks—sided with the China Top Team product by 29-28 and 30-27 scores, while Dave Hagen saw it 29-28 for Michaud. Leg kicks, takedowns and ground-and-pound were the weapons of choice for Li, who also utilized a punishing jab. A replacement for the injured Danny Mitchell, Michaud did his best work in the second round, where he briefly moved to the Chinese standout’s back. Li closed with a flourish, as he grinded on the South Dakotan from top position late in the fight, freeing himself from a desperation guillotine choke along the way and doing just enough to curry majority favor with the judiciary.

3. Unsettling Slumber

Former Sengoku and Shooto Pacific Rim champion Keita Nakamura put Li to sleep with a rear-naked choke in the third round of their UFC Fight Night 75 welterweight prelim on Sept. 26, 2015 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. Nakamura finished it 2:17 into Round 3. Li recovered from a rough first round to shine in the second. There, he battered Nakumura with body-head combinations, hammered away with a stabbing jab, drove him to the mat with a left hand over the top and let loose with ground-and-pound. The assault resulted in a bloody nose for Nakamura and left him to move forward in a diminished capacity. Appearing to pull away, Li sprawled out of a takedown in the third round but met with a false sense of security. Nakamura scrambled to his back and cinched the standing rear-naked choke in a blink. Li went limp while still on his feet, collapsing face first to the canvas.

4. Sense of Belonging

Li made the most significant move of his career when he wiped out former Jungle Fight champion Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos with punches in the third round of their UFC Fight Night 157 co-headliner on Aug. 31, 2019 at the Shenzhen Universiade Sports Centre in Shenzhen, China. “The Leech” drew the curtain 4:51 into Round 3, with 10,000 of his countrymen roaring their approval. Stellar footwork and lateral movement kept Li out of danger, and a measured, opportunistic approach did the rest. He decked Zaleski dos Santos with a straight left in the closing seconds of the first round, withstood the Brazilian’s change of pace in the middle stanza and sealed the deal in the third. There, Li staggered Cristiano Marcello disciple with a right uppercut and followed up with punches from both hands, forcing referee John Sharp to call for the stoppage. The loss was Zaleski dos Santos’ first in more than four years and snapped his seven-fight winning streak.

5. Just Another Victim

Blue-chip Allstars Training Center talent Khamzat Chimaev returned from a year-long absence and separated Li from his senses with a rear-naked choke in the first round of their UFC 267 welterweight showcase on Oct. 30, 2021 at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The stoppage was called 3:16 into Round 1. The undefeated Chimaev handled his business like a contract killer. He secured a takedown inside the first 30 seconds, applied his ground-and-pound and advanced to the back before flattening out “The Leech” and nearly closing the show with unanswered punches. Chimaev then turned his attention to the neck, slid his arm into place for the choke, readjusted his grip and tightened his squeeze until the lights went out on his opponent. He was flawless.