Chapter 527: Number One Strongest in the World

Chapter 527: The World's Strongest

The development and popularization of judo in North America have been quite good. Many free combat athletes and even American wrestling players have some foundation in judo. In official events, the overall strength of the United States and Canada is decent, falling short of the top-tier nations like Japan, France, and today's China, but not far behind second-tier countries like Russia, and they often achieve results in world-class competitions.

This World Judo North American Invitational, held in LA, offers not only points and high prize money but also the allure of substantial appearance fees. Even those who don't place can earn as much as the top eight prize money in other invitationals or Grand Prix events.

This is closely tied to the commercialization of the event in LA, which even surpasses the European leagues that pride themselves on their excellent judo commercialization. Of course, this is mainly because it's just a single LA invitational. Apart from this, other North American Judo Federation events still can't match the European leagues.

Due to the high prize money, generous appearance fees, and good treatment across the board, the North American Invitational consistently attracts judo athletes of high skill and ranking, sometimes even surpassing some Masters events.

Meng Fan's visit here isn't for the prize money or the event's level; it's mainly due to the arrangement of the Weightlifting, Wrestling, and Judo Center. He doesn't care about the prize money, nor the event's standard, because whether the event is top-tier depends mainly on whether he participates.

Additionally, Meng Fan plans to visit and tour Pixar. Not only is he coming, but the Shanhai Animation Studio has also organized a group on a later flight, arriving slightly later, to join Meng Fan at Pixar after his competition.

When the Chinese judo team, led by Meng Fan, arrived in LA, they received a warm welcome from the local Chinese community at the airport. The reception was spectacular, rivaling that of any Chinese celebrity visiting LA.

Nowadays, the Chinese judo team has joined the ranks of China's sports dream teams. In terms of achievements, they are temporarily at the bottom of that group, having only truly exerted themselves for less than a year. But in popularity, they are on par with the top dream teams like table tennis and women's volleyball, all thanks to Meng Fan, the "traffic" magnet in the judo team.

Not only local Chinese came, but also local media. An Olympic five-gold medalist and the latest Laureus Award winner—such an identity is enough to drive the media wild, especially since Meng Fan is a handsome, crazy-acting man known as the world's strongest.

After barely squeezing out of the crowd, the Chinese judo team boarded a bus to the hotel, checked in, and then took another bus to familiarize themselves with the competition venue.

The North American Judo Federation has put great effort into promoting this event, with the focus naturally on Meng Fan. From the bus, one could see large posters of participating athletes hanging on the gymnasium's outer walls, with the heroic Meng Fan standing out prominently.

The promotion was successful, or rather, Meng Fan's appeal is truly powerful. The 12,000-seat gymnasium saw its first-ever sellout since its construction, with all tickets sold and additional seats added. This wasn't just due to Chinese Americans snapping up tickets; many local North American audiences also joined the frenzy, and a large portion were not originally judo fans. Incomplete statistics show that female viewers accounted for a considerable proportion.

The Chinese team received very thoughtful guidance at the gymnasium, with ample time and space for familiarizing themselves with the venue and training arrangements. However, there were also many media reporters present, whom athletes generally dislike seeing before a competition.

"The organizers have arranged a unified pre-competition press conference."

The leader of the Chinese judo team told Meng Fan and the others that after familiarizing themselves with the venue, they needed to attend the press conference, especially those with world champion titles, including Meng Fan.

"Brother!"

Teddy Rena, who had been training and playing in China, had already been corrupted by the Chinese team members. When he arrived with the French team, he shouted a greeting to Meng Fan from afar, speaking Chinese with a clear Northeastern accent.

After exchanging pleasantries, Teddy Rena, looking as if he were up to some mischief, pulled Meng Fan aside and whispered, "You need to be mentally prepared. Someone is out to get you."

Meng Fan looked puzzled: "What do you mean?"

Teddy Rena told Meng Fan what he knew: "I have a friend in the UFC league. He heard from others that the UFC higher-ups are planning to cause trouble for you. I guess it has to do with you ignoring the UFC ring match before."

UFC stands for Ultimate Fighting Championship, currently the world's top and largest professional MMA event.

Meng Fan thought for a moment and vaguely remembered.

It all started when he became famous for single-handedly beating up athletes from multiple countries after his brother-in-law Wu Ji was beaten at a Japanese martial arts dojo. Later, he took on the entire South Korean martial arts world, with a twist in between. The leader of the South Korean martial arts world was a UFC signed fighter. When Meng Fan swept through various South Korean gyms, UFC had considered hosting a ring match between Meng Fan and the leader, Kim Hyun, to ride on his popularity, expand UFC's influence in Asia, and boost viewership and ticket sales. But Meng Fan ignored them entirely, focusing solely on continuing his gym challenges.

After that, Meng Fan went further in weightlifting, wrestling, and judo, especially in wrestling and judo, where he became unbeatable. The title of Asia's strongest gradually transitioned to the world's strongest, and he held that position firmly.

As is well known, UFC is the highest level of mixed martial arts, which is equivalent to the ultimate human combat sport under formal rules. Therefore, there has been dissatisfaction with Meng Fan being called the world's strongest and the world's best fighter, with many UFC fighters expressing discontent and disdain online.

However, since Olympic events and professional events are different, most people haven't paid much attention.

If someone had said earlier that a large-scale, top-tier event like UFC would deliberately and groundlessly pick a fight, it would be hard to believe. But now that Meng Fan is at the peak of global sports, it's quite possible that UFC is "cashing in" on his fame. After all, UFC's most important revenue comes from event viewership and broadcasting rights, and in terms of global influence, few can rival Meng Fan today.

So, Teddy Rena's seemingly baseless words were mostly believed by Meng Fan.

"Alright, I'll be careful."

"I get the feeling you don't seem to care at all."

After familiarizing themselves with the venue, the famous athletes, coaches, and team leaders gathered, along with a crowd of media reporters, for the pre-competition press conference.

Questions and answers flew, and soon it was Meng Fan's turn.

Without even a twitch of Meng Fan's eyelid, a beautiful and generous reporter with lips that looked particularly adept at stirring trouble stood up and asked, "Hello, Meng from China. What do you think of the title 'World's Strongest'? Do you know that there is also a fighter in UFC who holds that title?"

(This chapter ends)