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UFC 300
Zhang Weili: ‘I Have Come A Long Way’
Strawweight Champion Zhang Weili Is Proud To Defend Her Title Against Yan Xiaonan In An All-China Fight For Gold At UFC 300: Pereira vs Hill
Zhang Weili is radiating gratitude as she makes her rounds at UFC 300 media day. Whether she is interacting with fellow fighters, inquiring reporters or UFC staff, the two-time strawweight champion is enjoying the lead-up to her next title defense. It’s that demeanor, combined with her excellence inside the Octagon, that puts her among the most well-liked and well-respected mixed martial artists in the world, which also makes her the perfect face for Chinese mixed martial arts, particularly after she became China’s first UFC champion back in August 2019.
The journey from then to now had its ups and downs—you don’t become a two-time champion without first losing your belt—but it has all made Zhang a sharper fighter and person. She embraces her platform as a role model for young people, but is quick to mention her own “beacons,” from Joanna Jędrzejczyk and Amanda Nunes to Anderson Silva, Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov.
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“I have seen the sport growing exponentially in China,” Zhang said during her interview with UFC.com. “There is a lot of new gyms, a lot of young generations from different disciplines joining (like) from sanda or wrestling. I firmly believe that MMA is going to grow very fast in China and have a really bright future.”
Chinese MMA gets to add another milestone to its ledger at UFC 300, as Zhang defends her belt against Yan Xiaonan in the first all-China title fight in UFC history.
UFC 300 COUNTDOWN: Full Episode | Pereira vs Hill | Zhang vs Yan | Gaethje vs Holloway
Zhang, who has two total defenses under her belt, hopes to string together consecutive ones together with a win over Yan, and beyond fighting a fellow countrywoman, she is eager for the challenges Yan presents in the Octagon.
Zhang Weili | Best Finishes
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Zhang Weili | Best Finishes
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Yan has long been seen as a potential title challenger since making her UFC debut in November 2017 (about nine months before Zhang made her first appearance in the Octagon). After compiling a seven-fight win streak to open her UFC account, she suffered back-to-back losses to former champion Carla Esparza and perennial Top 10 presence Marina Rodriguez. Those losses prompted a shift, and Yan moved her training camps to Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, California.
READ: The History Of Chinese Fighters in The UFC
There, she sharpened her all-around game and tallied back-to-back wins over Mackenzie Dern and Jéssica Andrade to earn a shot at Zhang and gold. Zhang believes Yan’s whole skillset benefited from her move to California, and the thought of needing to use all of her own abilities during a fight is an exciting prospect to her.
Although Zhang will hear “and still” should she prove victorious, the 34-year-old isn’t viewing herself as the one with the belt when the Octagon door closes. “I don’t regard myself as defending the belt,” she said. “To me, both are challengers because the belt is up for grabs. Anybody can get it. Anybody can try to get it. Both me and Yan are very eager to become champion. It’s going to be an amazing fight.”
Throughout Zhang’s career, she has shown an ability to shift her plan of attack according to her opponent’s strengths and weaknesses. Her 11 knockouts and eight submissions speak to that. But she isn’t exactly choosing the path of least resistance, either. When she wrested the belt from Andrade, it came from a flurry inside the pocket to earn the TKO win. In both battles against Jędrzejczyk, she stood and traded with one of the best strikers to compete in the Octagon. And against Esparza, Zhang took down the decorated wrestler and racked up the submission win.
It's all a part of Zhang’s mentality, one Bruce Lee made famous, to being like water.
WATCH: Top Highlights From All UFC 300 Athletes
“My mind, my body, just feels like water,” she said. “If you have fire, water becomes (steam). If water is cold, it becomes ice. If you put water in a cup, water is the cup. With different opponents, I am different.”
The strawweight champ is also happy to compete in Las Vegas for the first time since her epic Fight of the Year in 2020 against Jędrzejczyk. She views Vegas as her “lucky place” and a perfect location for another epic performance.
When reflecting on fighting in UFC 300’s co-main event, she points to where she was when UFC 200 went down almost eight years ago. At the time, she was just 5-1 and only a few years into her career.
“I was a rookie at that time,” she said. “I didn’t know much. But now, look at me. I’m at 300. I have come a long way.”
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Two more years would pass before Zhang stepped into the Octagon, and it would only take two more to capture UFC gold for the first time. Her first reign would end abruptly less than two years after that, but the belt was once again hers a little more than two years after that.
It was a journey that has seen more ups than downs, but one that made her a sharper and battle-tested champion that will step into the Octagon on April 13. It was a journey that molded her into the face of a country’s surging MMA scene, one of the most beloved champions on the roster and a beacon in her own right.
UFC 300: Pereira vs Hill took place live from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on April 13, 2024. See the final Prelim and Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC Fight Pass!
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