Jingliang Li doesn’t currently have a fight booked but he knows who he wants to fight next. The Chinese welterweight took to Instagram to declare his interest in facing Geoff Harris.
He even made a photo collage of him and Harris throwing punches:
View this post on Instagram
Local culture
Li recently relocated to the US and he appears to be immersing himself in the local culture. Calling out potential opponents has always been more of a western thing and it hasn’t taken the Chinese fighter long to pick up the habit.
Li has also been working as a local language UFC commentator in China. But he is now based long term in the US, he announced on Instagram that he planned to stay there for a year.
Neal is currently ranked #12 while Li is ranked #13 so the matchup would make a lot of sense. The American is coming off a split decision win over Santiago Ponzinibbio at UFC 268.
Meanwhile the Chinese fighter was last seen getting submitted by Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 267. Li’s stock didn’t fall too far after that defeat because everyone loses to the undefeated Swedish star.
Popular destinations
Li appears to be based in Florida although he might just have travelled there temporarily for UFC 267. Local camps include Sanford MMA which has proved very popular with fighters competing in Asia.
Aung La Nsang and Martin Nguyen are both regular visitors to Sanford MMA while Reinier de Ridder is currently training there. Fight Ready in Arizona has also welcomes some of Asia’s best fighters in recent months including The Korean Zombie and Weili Zhang.
A few fighters have their sights set on the Chinese star. Shavkat Rakhmonov is the latest welterweight to call him out although he doesn’t appear particularly keen on fighting the Russian.
Regardless of where Li ends up he will want to get back in the octagon sooner or later. And with Neal also awaiting his first matchup of 2022 this might just be the match to make.
