Has reigning UFC Women’s Strawweight titleholder Zhang Weili finally run out of challenges in her division?
Stern Challenge Awaited Zhang Weili in “The Land Down Under”
At UFC 312 on Feb. 8, Zhang Weili made the trip out to Sydney, Australia for what was shaping up to be the toughest challenge of her second championship stint to date. Fighting in the co-main event, “Magnum” came to blows with undefeated the wrestling specialist, Tatiana Suarez.
While much of her tenure in the organization had been marred by numerous years spent on the sidelines because of injuries, Suarez was viewed as a true threat to Zhang Weili’s dominance. Entering the UFC after winning the 23rd season of The Ultimate Fighter, the former Pan American gold medalist won her next four bouts in a row, which included victories over former champions in Alexa Grasso and Carla Esparza.
Although she looked to be the next big thing at 115-lb, would be forced to take a four year hiatus from the sport due to several injuries.
Returning to action in 2023, the unbeaten Suarez dazzled fight fans by triumphing in two different contests that year, taking out both Montana De La Rosa and previous strawweight queen Jéssica Andrade by second round guillotine choke. Looking to be hurdling back toward title contention, Suarez was gearing up for an action-packed 2024, but once again, injuries kept the California native out of competition until UFC 312.
Shutout Performance Leads To Phenomenal Title Defense
At the time of their contest, Zhang Weili was a slight underdog versus the unblemished Suarez, whose expert wrestling ability was expected to pose major problems for the incumbent. While the odds predicted a close night at the office for the champion, Zhang, in arguably the greatest showing of her career, absolutely dominated her challenger. Despite losing the first round on all three judge’s cards, it was all her from the second onward, with the Chinese striking whizz battering Suarez with crisp punches, as well as denying almost all of her 15 takedown attempts. In the end, Zhang solidified her place as the best strawweight on planet earth by unanimous decision to notch her third straight title defense.
Is There Anything Left for Zhang Weili at Strawweight?
Having bested who was being talked about as her hardest adversary of her second championship reign, is there no one left at strawweight that can challenge Zhang Weili? Looking at the current rankings, “Magnum” has defeated everyone in the top five of her weight class other than the streaking Virna Jandiroba, who is currently booked to battle Yan Xiaonan. The winner of that meeting will likely vie for the strap against Zhang sometime later on in 2025.
Other intriguing matchups for the Chinese also include Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ace Mackenzie Dern (who recently avenged a loss to Amanda Ribas) and a possible rematch with Yan Xiaonan should she manage to topple Jandiroba. In both of these matchups, though, Zhang Weili would be favored, seeing as how she has conquered submission experts like Carla Esparza and Suarez and already trounced Xiaonan at UFC 300.
What About a Possible Move up in Weight for Zhang Weili?
Across both of her periods as champion, Zhang Weili has proven herself as a pound-for-pound stalwart in women’s MMA, accruing four total defenses and tying the record for most strawweight championship wins in UFC history with six. However, while she is undoubtedly an all-time great at 115-lb, the next major step of Zhang’s career is unquestionably a superfight with women’s flyweight apex Valentina Shevchenko.
Last seen at UFC 306 last September, the former 125-lb queen regained her position at the head of the pack by dethroning her nemesis Alexa Grasso in a blowout performance to retake her belt. Although a fight between her and French steamroller Manon Fiorot is likely in the cards for her first title defense, a pairing between her and Zhang is the premier bout to book in women’s MMA right now.
After beating Suarez, Zhang voiced a desire to lock horns with Shevchenko at some point in the future. In the post-fight press conference at UFC 312, “Magnum” said she would be willing to go up against the Russian, but only when the timing works out for both of them.
“Everything is about timing. If there’s a good time for both of us to make this fight happen, it happens.”
At the time of this writing, both Shevchenko and Zhang occupy the UFC’s women’s pound-for-pound rankings at number one and number two respectively. This makes a potential scrap between these two even more enticing, as they are clearly the two top female fighters in the world.
The matchup would also be the first UFC women’s double champion fight in almost seven years since Amanda Nunes moved up and successfully knocked out Cris Cyborg at UFC 232 in 2018.