Original title: Zhang Weili plans to move up in weight to fight UFC flyweight champion Grasso
China News Service, Beijing, December 20 (Reporter Xing Rui) Recently, Chinese fighting “Queen” Zhang Weili made an appointment to fight UFC flyweight gold belt holder Alexa Grasso through personal social media. Zhang Weili said that she is willing to move up from strawweight to flyweight.
Regarding Zhang Weili’s challenge, Grasso replied: “I admire you very much and would like to defend the title against you. Can you move up to 125 pounds?”
Zhang Weili responded readily: “Come on, champion, I can move up to 125 pounds.”
This post attracted nearly 40,000 likes and more than 1,000 replies. It is worth mentioning that Facebook founder Zuckerberg also wrote in Zhang Weili’s comment area: “I would like to see this game.”
Screenshots of Zhang Weili’s personal social media
Stunning strawweight arena
As China’s first UFC champion, Zhang Weili maintains terrifying strength in the strawweight arena. In 2019, Zhang Weili defeated Jessica Andrade at UFC Fight Night Shenzhen and became the first UFC champion in Chinese history.
Just a year later, facing the challenge from Polish player Joanna, Zhang Weili fought fiercely with her for 5 rounds and finally won by points to defend her title. It was with this game that Zhang Weili began to enter the public eye.
Standing at the top, while accepting praise, Zhang Weili is also eager to keep the gold belt in China. However, it backfired. After that, Zhang Weili lost twice to Rose Namajunas, known as the “Thug Rose”. These two losses also plunged Zhang Weili’s career into a trough.
“From the day I lost the gold belt, I told myself that I would definitely come back.” This was Zhang Weili’s promise to herself in difficult circumstances. In order to regain the gold belt, she blocked out all sounds from the outside world and tried to find herself who once had the dream of fighting.
From “Beijing Drifting Girl” to “Surface King”
Ten years ago, Zhang Weili was still a “Beijing drifter girl” who came to Beijing from her hometown in Hebei to seek life. She wrote on her social media: “I believe that as long as I don’t give up, I can stand in the UFC ring! Come on, only by challenging the strong can we continue to grow!”
At that time, she had no fame or any outstanding experience. She only had the title of Hebei Province Youth Sanda Champion and a series of injuries caused by practicing Sanda for many years.
In order to make a living, Zhang Weili worked as a kindergarten teacher, hotel receptionist, cashier, sales, etc. Recalling her life as a drifter in Beijing, Zhang Weili said frankly: “It was a confusing time.” Deep in her heart, she kept reminding herself: “You shouldn’t live like this, you should find a career that you love.”
It wasn’t until Zhang Weili found a job in a gym that her fighting career reached a turning point. According to Zhang Weili’s recollection, there is a fighting ring area in this gym. She gets up at 6 o’clock every morning, takes the subway for an hour and a half to train, and starts her day’s work after training.
Introduced by a gym customer, Zhang Weili became a “half-way monk” mixed martial arts fighter and started her career in the “Octagonal Cage”.
Regain the belt
From an unknown newcomer to a well-known champion, and then losing the gold belt to Rose, Zhang Weili learned to focus on herself: “No one will succeed all the time, especially in confrontational events. After the rematch with Rose, I just think we should do our best in the moment.”
Hard work pays off. Last year, Zhang Weili defeated Carla Esparza at UFC 281 and regained the gold belt. At the same time, she also completed a gorgeous transformation. In August this year, Zhang Weili defended her title again.
Today, in the strawweight arena, Zhang Weili almost completely crushes her opponents. In order to challenge herself, Zhang Weili has a plan to increase weight, “Let’s see what happens in the next 125.”
As Zhang Weili challenged Grasso on her personal social media, she was ready to attack the flyweight gold belt.
2023-12-20 08:34:00
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