Ultimate alliance bolsters nation's Olympic preparations

Chinese Basketball Association chairman Yao Ming visits the UFC Performance Institute in Shanghai after its opening in June 2019. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY

Having once worked out until her exhausted body stopped her, judoka Yang Junxia now counts on machines to tell her when she's had enough.

"Everything is measurable here. The workout is monitored and the results are analyzed. You get the feedback not just from your body but from the machines, which I guess won't lie," China's Asian champion said of her experiences training at the Ultimate Fighting Championship's Performance Institute in Shanghai this week.

Thanks to a multi-year deal signed between the Chinese Olympic Committee and the Las Vegas-based mixed martial arts organization, more of China's elite athletes across all sports will join Yang at the institute.

It's hoped the wealth of amenities at the cutting-edge facility will aid their preparations for events such as next year's Tokyo Summer Olympics and the 2022 Beijing Winter Games.

Under the agreement, the UFC will serve as the official high-performance advisor to the COC's training program, with the UFC Shanghai PI hosting multiple Chinese national teams as a training center in the buildup to the Games.

Having witnessed MMA star Zhang Weili hone her craft at the PI to win the country's first UFC world title (strawweight), China's top sports governing body now plans to tap deeper into the UFC's training expertise to benefit a wider range of talents.

"Enhancing physical training and making up for the weakness in physical strength is the foundation of preparation for the Olympics," said a COC statement released on Wednesday.

"We are delighted to work with the UFC and send elite athletes to the UFC PI in Shanghai to work on their physical program and recovery. We hope that UFC's scientific training system can help Chinese athletes to prepare for the two upcoming Olympic Games."

Opened in June last year, the 8,600-square-meter institute, located in downtown Shanghai, will provide a variety of physical training and rehabilitation services to Chinese athletes, with particular focus on strength conditioning, sports science, physical therapy and nutrition.

Even before announcing the agreement on Wednesday, a selection of Chinese national teams, including the cycling, judo, rowing, sailing and wrestling squads, visited the PI for trial training programs over the past 18 months. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive.

The comprehensive recovery facilities, including cryotherapy and hydrotherapy, left a major impression on China's sailing world champion Lu Yunxiu.

"It's a whole new experience," said Lu, winner of the women's RS: X discipline at last year's world championships. "The services and support to help you recover after high-intensity physical training sessions are impressive."

Fu Guoyi, head coach of the national women's judo team, is excited by the possibilities of customizing training plans more scientifically at the PI.

"The procedure to have each athlete go through a detailed body evaluation and the feedback for adjusting the programs to different performance standards are really helpful," said Fu.

With the new partnership targeting China's entire Olympic program, UFC, which has hosted three live events on the Chinese mainland, is aiming to extend its influence beyond the combat sports community in the country.

"UFC is proud to partner with the Chinese Olympic Committee and be a valuable resource for their athletes," said Kevin Chang, UFC's senior vice-president of Asia-Pacific.

"UFC built this facility to demonstrate its strong commitment to China and to serve elite-level athletes who want to develop their skills and achieve excellence in their respective sports. This partnership is a model for how we want to serve the athletic community in Asia going forward."

Duncan French, UFC's vice-president of the Performance Institute, echoed that sentiment, saying: "The larger ambition of the UFC Performance Institute is to be a global leader in high performance across all sports, not just MMA.

"We plan to use our experts in both our Las Vegas and Shanghai facilities to apply their knowledge and experience to help Chinese Olympians reach their full potential."

UFC opened its first performance institute in Las Vegas in 2017 as the world's first MMA multi-disciplinary research, innovation and training center. Through the first three years of operation, over 400 athletes on UFC's roster have utilized the facility, while more than 100 NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB and Olympic athletes have visited the venue for support during their offseason training.