Despite 'TUF: China' runner-up finish, Wang Sai will get a second UFC fight

MACAU – Say want you want about his level of talent, but there’s no doubting Wang Sai‘s heart. And because of it, he’ll get a second UFC fight.

Sai (6-5-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC), a “TUF: China” tournament runner-up, suffered a hard-fought split-decision defeat to newly crowned show champion Zhang Lipeng (7-7 MMA, 1-0 UFC) in the co-headliner of today’s UFC event, the TUF China Finale.

While UFC Asia Managing Director Mark Fischer initially said there was a “strong possibility” Sai would get a second shot at a first official UFC win, one of the UFC’s matchmakers quickly gave him the green light to formally announce it.

“Sean Shelby is nodding over there,” Fischer said after the event. “That means it’s going to happen. Weng Sai definitely will get another shot in the UFC.”

The TUF China Finale took place at The Venetian Macao’s CotaiArena in Macau. It streamed on UFC Fight Pass.

With the featherweight-tourney postponed due to an injury, welterweights Lipeng and Sai had the tall task of proving the worth of the fighters on “TUF: China,” who were criticized as far below UFC level. And though their tourney final was often sloppy and not the most technical affair, it proved a competitive one. Lipeng ultimately escaped with a split-decision victory, though most of the major media outlets scored it for Sai, according to MMADecisions.com.

It brought about a swift condemnation from UFC President Dana White:

Apparently MMA judging sucks worldwide. #TUFChinaFinale—
Dana White (@danawhite) March 01, 2014

Sai, though, opted to hold back his complaints.

“I don’t really want to say my real feelings about [the decision],” he said through a translator. “All I want to say is whoever steps inside the [cage] is the real warrior.

” … I’ll try my best and be ready for the next one.”

After the fight, Lipeng paid tribute to his opponent.

“I think in the first two rounds, I had more takedowns and had better grappling,” he said. “I think that impressed the judges, and that’s why I won the fight.

“I’m actually quite excited because Wang Sai is the old generation of fighters in China, and I’m the new generation. To fight against someone like him proved my MMA skills.”

For complete coverage of the TUF China Finale, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.

John Morgan contributed to this report on-site in Macau.