Chapter 399: Rubbish, if you can block one punch, you win!

"So, what made you decide to participate in this event?"

The white reporter was very excited and continued to ask:
“Is it because of the pressure from public opinion?”

"I do have this consideration, but I also want to give a response to those who doubt me!"

Chuck Liddell looked disdainful and said coldly:
"I refuse the challenge not because I'm afraid. It would only be a waste of my time to deal with such a wimp!"

In other words, if the organizer + company had not chosen to fight in order to attract the Eastern market, he would not want to fight at all.

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone at the scene started shouting.

Many boxing fans showed a victorious posture and they really liked the Iceman's domineering look.

"So, in which round do you expect to finish the game?"

The Iceman smiled contemptuously and held up two fingers:

"Two rounds! If I can't finish the fight within two rounds, I'm going to quit the UFC."

The Iceman's arrogant words once again caused a sensation at the scene.

On the other side, Du Sheng, who noticed the situation over there, just chuckled.

At this time, a white reporter who understood Chinese immediately stepped forward, translated the conversation over there, and asked:
"Mr. Du, Chuck Liddell said that if he can't knock you out in two rounds, he will retire and never fight in the UFC again. What do you think of this?"

Du Sheng looked calm, as if he could not hear the provocation in his words, and said:
"If I were him, if I couldn't knock out the opponent in the first round, I would be useless. I would not have the face to stand on the ring again. I would just retire right now."

Wow!
As soon as these words were spoken, there was an uproar at the scene.

Immediately afterwards, the reporters screamed excitedly and the sound of shutter clicks rang out one after another.

This is big news!

If you can’t knock out your opponent in the first round, will you just retire?
What a rude contempt this is!

Even though there is some sarcasm in this statement, it is now interview time.

One can imagine how exaggerated the report will turn out to be.

Not to mention, this guy repeatedly got close to the enemy and fired his weapon, as if he was afraid that the fire wasn't big enough and was pouring fuel on it!

"Fuck! What did you say?"

As expected, Chuck Liddell's face suddenly changed, and he turned his head and yelled at Du Sheng.

He has been fighting in the martial arts world for many years and has never been knocked down in one round.

Even in his last match against the highly-anticipated current champion 'Spider', he lasted three full rounds.

Why does this yellow-skinned monkey from the sick man of Dongya dare to look down on me like this?

Does he have the qualifications?!
"Don't understand? Then I'll say it again."

Du Sheng was calm and said calmly:
"If I can't knock you out in one round, I'll retire right there and then."

What does arrogance mean?

Now, this is it!
"Fuck, you're looking for death!"

As the UFC middleweight champion, the Iceman not only has a bad temper, but also carries a sense of arrogance.

Seeing that Du Sheng dared to step on his face like this in his own territory, he instantly became furious and rushed over.

An attitude of never giving up and fighting to the death.

Du Sheng stood up slowly and calmly, facing the furious ice man head-on.

There was a hint of mockery on his face, as if he was silently mocking:
"Come on, trash, if you can block one punch, you win!"

In an instant, the atmosphere became tense.

The audience shouted excitedly, as if they were enjoying the fun.

The flash lights kept flashing and the reporters were excited to capture this wonderful scene.

The security guards at the scene were prepared and quickly stepped forward to separate the two people.

Tang Jin quickly stopped Du Sheng and whispered:
"Calm down, don't get carried away.

If they really fight, it will not benefit either side and will affect the next game."

Unlike K1 competitions, Du Sheng will certainly not act rashly.

If he knocks his opponent down before even entering the ring, he won't even be able to recover the venue fee, which would be a huge loss for him.

Although the conflict was suppressed, this little episode attracted enough attention and topics for the upcoming competition.

In particular, Du Sheng’s provocative words, “If I can’t knock out my opponent in one round, I will retire immediately,” left a deep impression on the public.

What is certain is that the game tonight will be extremely exciting.

For a time, many people rushed to buy tickets or subscribe to live broadcast services, wanting to witness the exciting match tonight.

That night, UFC's first championship challenge of 2004 finally arrived.

Du Sheng and his group drove to the arena, and the scene before them surprised everyone.

There were a lot of Chinese people outside the venue, at least three or four hundred people.

Many audience members had five-star red flag stickers on their faces and waved posters of Du Sheng and his name in their hands, and cheers rang out one after another.

When Du Sheng saw all this, he was filled with excitement.

He turned to Cao Jian and asked:

"Are these organized by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce?"

Nicky Hilton, Li Yixin and others sitting nearby were also shocked by the scene before them.

As a socialite who is good at hype, it is not surprising that the former is present tonight.

With such great popularity, she would come even if Du Sheng didn't invite her.

What's more, there is an ambiguous relationship between the two parties.

However, the appearance of the pretty and sweet Samsung little princess Li Yixin made Wang Yaoyang, Zhang Haolong and others excited and surprised.

For them, white girls like Hilton's daughter are too far away, but the Samsung empire in the neighboring country is within their reach. I heard that Li Yixin is still single.

There was no rumor of a rich girl falling in love with a poor boy.

For Wang Yaoyang, who dreams of making a living, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!
If only...

However, Li Yixin's curious eyes remained on Du Sheng, which disappointed him.

It turns out that women don’t love bad men.

Speaking of which, the Hearst sisters, media giants, originally wanted to join in the fun, but they had something urgent to do in New York and couldn't leave, otherwise it would have been even more lively.

Cao Jian came to the Lighthouse Country with the team of Yangshi Channel 5 the day before yesterday. He was mainly responsible for following up the broadcast and interviews of the event.

He understood what Du Sheng meant and shook his head with a smile:
"Chinese businessmen wouldn't organize something like this. It looks like most of them are local international students or Chinese who come here specifically to cheer you on."

Outside the bus, cheers and shouts of encouragement came like waves, and could be heard even a hundred meters away.

"Come on, Du Sheng!"

"Strive for honor and stand out!"

"Fuck the ghost guy!"

Du Sheng was somewhat moved when he heard these passionate shouts.

Nikki Hilton looked at the enthusiastic international students outside the window and couldn't help but said proudly:

"Yixin, look over there, there's my portrait on the cover!"

At this moment, she was very glad that she came here tonight to support the event (to take advantage of the popularity).

Because even for the UFC popular boxer Iceman, there were only thirty or forty fans chasing the bus over there.

The gap between the two sides is too obvious.

From this we can see that Du Sheng is quite popular here.

Li Yixin turned her head and saw some fans holding the cover of the song "Just the Way You Are" in the crowd.

It showed a picture of Du Sheng playing and singing, with Nicky Hilton moved to tears beside him.

Although she had studied here for a few years and had gradually gotten used to the trends of the Lighthouse Country, she still envied:
"Niki, it seems you bet on the right horse this time. Congratulations."

Nicky Hilton naturally knew who the other party was talking about. Her eyes fell on the man involuntarily and she smiled complacently:
"Of course! If you are interested, I will introduce you to it next time..."

Cao Jian knew that this scene was most likely related to the press conference at noon, and said with emotion:
"Ah Sheng, try your best to win the game tonight. Even if it doesn't bring glory to the country, it's worth it for them."

Zhang Haolong rolled his eyes and said:
"Brother Sheng said that he could finish off the opponent in one round, so he can do what he says!
And not only must I win tonight, I must also take the championship belt in the next match!"

As they were talking, the group walked into the lounge of the Mandalay Arena.

This venue, which can accommodate 12000 spectators, was packed and bustling with people.

Du Sheng took a quick look and saw that there were about 1,900 Chinese people in the audience.

The rest are audiences from the Beacon Country, among which female audiences account for a considerable proportion.

They sat in the stands, their faces filled with excitement and anticipation, as if they were waiting for something.

According to official UFC statistics, all 12000 tickets for the Mandalay Arena have been sold out.

Compared with the high ticket prices of famous boxing events, the ticket price for this UFC championship challenge seems much more affordable.

The lowest ticket is $588 and the highest is $7899.

Based on the average price of US$800, the total revenue is close to tens of millions of dollars.

In the boxing world, such income may only be considered average, but in the field of free fighting, it is an amazing record.

After all, this was only the first championship challenge and its impact should not be so great.

The UFC organization did not have high expectations at first. If it were not for Don King's strong proposal, they would only rent a venue of around 5000 yuan at most.

But since Du Sheng said he would cover the losses, he didn't even ask for the appearance fee;

If it makes a profit, UFC can get 2% of the profits for free. Naturally, the more good things like this, the better.

What's more, this match will also increase the popularity of UFC in the East, so it's a win-win situation no matter how you look at it!
With Chuck Liddell's backing, their psychological expectation was to sell just 6000 tickets.

If there are 20 paid on-demand viewers, the investment will basically be recovered.

However, the reality is far beyond their imagination!

Not only did all 12000 tickets sell out, it was still not enough!

In addition, PPV on-demand bookings have already exceeded 28.

Big explosion attitude.

This means that the hype over the past few days has been quite successful.

It is said that most of the audience came to watch Du Sheng with gritted teeth.

Dana White looked at the packed venue and sighed inwardly:
'UFC seems to be a sure win, but in the long run it's a loss!'

He is still optimistic about Du Sheng's long-term development. Although the on-demand performance has not yet produced any results, the attendance rate tonight is a good example.

Unfortunately, the board of directors was not optimistic about Du Sheng, thinking that this was just a temporary hype, and the contract had already been signed...

As for regret?

Unless UFC doesn't want to grow, he wouldn't be so short-sighted.

"Brother Sheng, we will most likely earn nearly $400 million from this tournament tonight!"

Zhang Haolong excitedly shared a piece of data.

If they win the match, after deducting the cost of venue, publicity and promotion, as well as the share of profits given to Iceman, the supporting actor and UFC, the net profit from tickets alone would be as high as 300 million US dollars.

If the PPV (pay per view) of this match can reach 30 people, there will be a share of about 90 US dollars.

If it reaches 50 visitors, that would be $150 million!
When converted in total, this alone is worth more than 3 million RMB!

If we include the income from gambling...

(End of this chapter)