Alatengheili “The Mongolian Knight” returns to action in the UFC this Saturday, September 18 as he takes on Gustavo Lopez at UFC Fight Night: Smith vs. Spann. The fight takes place on ESPN+. The bout is scheduled for the second fight of the preliminary card which starts at 1 pm PDT.
Alateng, who competes in the Bantamweight division, is looking for his third victory in the UFC. His UFC career got off to an outstanding start as he earned “Fight of the Night” honors in his unanimous decision win over Danaa Batgerel at UFC Fight Night: Andrade vs. Zhang in August 2019. Alateng earned his second UFC victory via split decision against Ryan Benoit in December 2019.
Alateng is a native of Inner Mongolia, China. The Chinese fighter trains out of the world class UFC Performance Institute Shanghai.
Wrestling is Alateng’s MMA base and to prepare for his upcoming fight, he enlisted the assistance of wrestling Coach Fan Zhang of the Olympiad Wrestling Club. Olympiad Wrestling Club is a regional training center in Washington state that provides elite coaching for wrestlers, including Olympic wrestling hopefuls.
Main Event Preview
The main event features former Light Heavyweight title challenger Anthony “Lionheart” Smith versus Ryan Spann. Smith enters the fight in good form having won his past two fights via first round stoppage. Smith most recently stopped highly touted prospect and rising contender Jimmy Crute by TKO stoppage at UFC 261 in April. Crute was unable to continue the fight due to foot drop after suffering several punishing leg kicks from Smith, one of which dropped Crute to the canvas. Prior to that bout, Smith defeated Devin Clark via first round triangle choke last November in the main event of UFC on ESPN: Smith vs. Clark. The bout this Saturday will be Smith’s seventh main event in the UFC. His UFC record stands at 10-5.
Smith draws a game Ryan Spann in the main event as Spann is a rising contender bringing a 5-1 UFC record into this bout. Spann’s only UFC loss came at the hands of the wild and talented Johnny Walker. But in his most recent bout, Spann earned a Performance of the Night bonus with his first round TKO victory over Mischa Cirkunov in March. This should be a fun main event as Spann has a well earned reputation as an exciting fighter with 16 of his 19 professional victories coming by way of finish.