UFC Champion's Life Being Turned into a Biopic Series

According to The Hollywood Reporter, UFC strawweight champion Zhang Weili will have her life story adapted into an upcoming drama series. The news comes amid her recent acting debut in an arthouse film titled “After Typhoon,” which was released on April 4.

China’s leading streaming platform, iQiYi, has greenlit the idea of creating a new drama series based on Zhang’s life. The untitled project was announced during the Beijing International Film Festival, with production expected to begin soon.

Beyond the biographical series, the 35-year-old fighter has established a career in acting with a featured role in “After Typhoon,” a movie directed by acclaimed filmmaker Li Yu. In the film, Zhang plays Ah Xi, a woman with a tragic past whose life unravels after meeting a stranger on a storm-ravaged island.

Though Zhang has dedicated her life to fighting, she hadn’t considered acting until she received the script.

“I am comfortable fighting – that is my world. But digging into drama, into emotions, is so very different from what I usually do,” Zhang told The Hollywood Reporter. “But the more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea of taking on this challenge.”

Zhang received the script while preparing for her UFC 300 title defense against Yan Xiaonan.

She believes the new creative challenge helped rather than distracted her, saying, “I think it was actually very helpful in terms of helping me to relax. Usually, before a fight, we’re always only talking about the tactical stuff, about the fight itself, but we could actually have a discussion about the script, and forget for a little while about everything else.”

Zhang successfully defended her title at UFC 300 against Yan and went on to dominate Tatiana Suarez at UFC 312 in back in February. While she currently has no fights scheduled, she has expressed interest in fighting women’s flyweight legend Valentina Shevchenko.

“My focus is back on training now, but who’s to say what will happen in the future?” she said. “I think if a good role came along, whether it’s action or drama, I think now I’d take it.”

With her life story heading to television and her first film role now in the books, Zhang Weili is proving her star power can extend far beyond the Octagon.