About Shayilan Nuerdanbieke

Shayilan Nuerdanbieke (born May 4, 1994 Kazakh: Сайран Нұрданбек, romanized: Sayran Nurdanbek) is a Chinese mixed martial artist who competes in the Featherweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Background
Sayran comes from the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, which is located in northern Xinjiang, straddling the borders of Kazakhstan, Russia and Mongolia. He belongs to the Kazakh minority, training wrestling for 6 years and winning the 66KG Classical Wrestling Championship in Xinjiang and participated in many national competitions. After seeing Conor McGregor on television, he was inspired to try his hand in MMA.

He spends his free time practicing the dombra, a traditional stringed Kazakh musical instrument.