Weili Zhang took a potentially difficult moment and turned it into a positive at UFC 300.
While it appeared that Zhang had rendered opponent Xiaonan Yan unconscious with a rear-naked choke before the end of the opening round in their strawweight title fight, the bout was allowed to continue. The fight ultimately went the full 25 minutes, but Zhang was able to persevere — even surviving a knockdown in Round 3 — to emerge with a relatively clear-cut unanimous decision triumph.
Zhang came away impressed with Yan’s ability to recover, but outside of that, she claims to not have much memory of the rest of the fight.
“I really thought that she was out, and I did not know how the referee was going to handle that. But she bounced back very quickly in the second round,” Zhang said through a translator at Saturday’s post-fight press conference.
“I felt like I was in a dream. I blanked out during the fight. I didn’t know what I was doing.”
The UFC 300 co-main event marked the first time that two Chinese fighters squared off in the Octagon with a championship on the line. It’s something that Zhang can see becoming more common as MMA continues to progress in China.
“Mixed martial arts emerged in China really late, but it develops really fast. That’s why today we see two Chinese girls competing for the title at UFC 300, which is a historic moment,” Zhang said. “I believe in the future we’re going to see more competition like that — two Chinese fighters competing for the title shot.”
Zhang is already a well-established star in the Las Vegas-based promotion. In addition to being one-half of an instant classic against Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 248 in March 2020, “Magnum” has five victories in 115-pound title bouts — the second most all-time in the weight class. Despite her accomplishments, Zhang believes she still has work to do to be remembered as one of the greats.
“I definitely want to build my legacy,” she said. “I feel like I’m still [a long way from becoming] a legend. I still have a lot to learn.”
However, Zhang is as much about the journey as she is the destination. Sometimes, the process to getting to fight night can be overlooked, she says.
“When we talk about MMA and we talk about fights, I feel like we put a lot of focus on the wins and losses. But to me, what’s more important is the process, the progress,” Zhang said. “Because every athlete puts so much into this sport, into what they’re passionate about. The sweat, the blood, the tears — everything that happened is progress. I hope that we give respect to that.”
Currently on her second reign as strawweight champion, Zhang is willing to take on all comers — no matter who might be next. But for the moment, she doesn’t want to focus on any specific contender.
“I absolutely feel all the Top 5 and Top 10 girls, they can be potential challengers,” she said. “But for now, I just want to take a break and rest.”
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