Zhang Weili (; born August 13, 1989) is a Chinese mixed martial artist. She is the former Kunlun Fight (KLF) strawweight champion and competes in the strawweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where she is the current and two-time

UFC Women's Strawweight Champion Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) champions are fighters who have won UFC championships. Historical notes At the time of the UFC's inception in 1993, mixed martial arts was not sanctioned in the United States, and did not include weight classes ...

. She is the first ever Chinese champion in UFC history. As of November 15, 2022, she is #3 in UFC women's pound-for-pound rankings.

Background

Zhang was born in

Handan Handan is a prefecture-level city located in the southwest of Hebei province, China. The southernmost prefecture-level city of the province, it borders Xingtai on the north, and the provinces of Shanxi on the west, Henan on the south and Shando ...

, Hebei, China. Her father is a retired miner, and her mother is a housewife. She has one older brother, who quit his job as a gold trader to support Zhang's career, and now works at the gym where she trains. She started training in martial arts at a young age, beginning at 6 with Shaolin Kung Fu under the tutelage of a local master, after she was inspired by Kung Fu films. In primary school, she practiced many sports including athletics, football and table tennis. When she was 12, her parents sent her to a specialized martial arts school in Handan where she began training in Sanda and a Chinese style of wrestling called

Shuai jiao Shuai Jiao () is the term pertaining to the ancient jacket wrestling wushu style of Beijing, Tianjin and Baoding of Hebei Province in the North China Plain which was codified by Shan Pu Ying (善撲营 The Battalion of Excellency in Catching) o ...

. After winning Sanda championships of the Hebei province multiple times, she was selected for the Jiangsu province Sanda team, however a recurring back injury sustained in training forced her to quit the sport early. At the age of 17 she moved to Beijing, where she worked various odd jobs: cashier at a supermarket, kindergarten teacher, security guard and hotel desk clerk. In 2010 she found a job at a local Beijing gym as a fitness instructor, and was allowed to use their equipment for free after the gym closed in the evenings. During that time she would also pick up

Brazilian jiu-jitsu Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ; pt, jiu-jitsu brasileiro ) is a self-defence martial art and combat sport based on grappling, ground fighting (ne-waza) and submission holds. BJJ focuses on the skill of taking an opponent to the ground, control ...

, after watching others grappling there. She later switched to a front desk job, through which she got to know fighters who trained at the gym, one of them being her idol Wu Haotian, a pioneer of Chinese MMA. After they became acquainted in 2012, Haotian brought her to Black Tiger Fight Club. There, she was noticed by coach Cai Xuejun, who recognized her potential and started training her in MMA. In a Chinese television show in December 2019, she mentioned that Hong Kong Action Superstar Donnie Yen was her inspiration to compete in MMA, and that Donnie Yen's 2007 feature film '' Flashpoint'' was her first introduction to the sport of MMA. She also credited Ronda Rousey, and particularly her fight with Liz Carmouche in 2013, as giving her the motivation to quit her job and pursue MMA full-time.

Mixed martial arts career

Early career

Zhang made her professional MMA debut in 2013. After losing her professional debut to Meng Bo by unanimous decision, she would go on to win 11 straight fights before challenging Simone Duarte for the Kunlun Fight Female Strawweight Championship on May 25, 2017, at Kunlun Fight MMA 11. She won the fight via TKO in the second round. Zhang made her first title defense against Aline Sattelmayer on June 1, 2017, at Kunlun Fight MMA 12. She won the fight by unanimous decision. On July 22, 2017, Zhang attempted to win a second title, when she challenged Seo Ye-dam (서예담) for the vacant Top FC Strawweight Championship at TOP FC 15. She won the fight via TKO in the second round to capture the title. In her next bout, Zhang made her second KLF title defense on August 28, 2017, at Kunlun Fight MMA 14 against Marilia Santos. She won the fight via TKO in the second round. Zhang would fight one more time for KLF, amassing a record of 16-1 and improving her winning streak to 16 before signing with the UFC.

Ultimate Fighting Championship

Zhang made her promotion debut on August 4, 2018, at

UFC 227 ''UFC 227: Dillashaw vs. Garbrandt 2'' was a mixed martial arts event that was produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship and held on August 4, 2018, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Background A UFC Bantamweight Championsh ...

against Danielle Taylor. She won the fight via unanimous decision. On November 24, 2018, Zhang faced Jessica Aguilar at UFC Fight Night: Blaydes vs. Ngannou 2. She won the fight via a submission in round one. Zhang faced Tecia Torres on March 3, 2019, at UFC 235. She won the fight via unanimous decision.

UFC Strawweight Champion

Zhang faced Jéssica Andrade for the UFC Women's Strawweight Championship on August 31, 2019, at UFC Fight Night 157. She won the fight via first-round technical knockout to become the new strawweight champion. The win also earned Zhang her first ''

Performance of the Night UFC Bonus Awards are three separate cash bonuses usually awarded to four fighters after each UFC event, based on internal decisions by UFC management. More/fewer bonuses have been awarded at some events, especially when no knockouts or submissions ...

'' bonus award. In the first defense of her title, Zhang faced former strawweight champion

Joanna Jędrzejczyk Joanna Jędrzejczyk (; born August 18, 1987) is a Polish former professional mixed martial artist and Muay Thai kickboxer. She has been called the greatest female strawweight mixed martial artist of all time, including by Daniel Cormier, who cred ...

on March 7, 2020, at UFC 248. Zhang moved her training camp from China to Thailand and later moved to Dubai due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as TSA rules stated a two-week quarantine was imposed for any non-US citizen be granted entry to the United States if they had recently been in China. After multiple failed attempts to obtain a US visa to fight in UFC's events in the US, on February 19, 2020, Zhang was granted US visa to fight at UFC 248. Zhang won the back–and–forth fight via split decision, which marked her first successful title defense. This win also marked her first '' Fight of the Night'' award. This bout was considered by many pundits as the greatest fight in women's MMA history. In the second defense of her title, Zhang faced former strawweight champion

Rose Namajunas Rose Gertrude Namajunas (born June 29, 1992) is an American mixed martial artist. She is signed to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where she competes in the women's strawweight division and is the former two-time UFC Women's Strawweig ...

on April 24, 2021, at UFC 261. She lost the fight by knockout early in the first round after getting caught with a head kick.

Post title reign and second title shot

A rematch between Zhang and Namajunas for the UFC Women's Strawweight Championship took place on November 6, 2021 at

UFC 268 ''UFC 268: Usman vs. Covington 2'' was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on November 6, 2021, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York, United States. Background A UFC Welterwe ...

. After a back and forth bout, Weili lost the fight via split decision. 14 out of 22 media scores gave it to Namajunas. A rematch between Zhang and

took place on June 11, 2022 at UFC 275. Zhang won the fight via knockout with a spinning backfist in the second round. This win earned her the ''

'' award and the

Crypto.com Crypto.com is a cryptocurrency exchange company based in Singapore. As of May 2022, the company reportedly had 50 million customers and 4,000 employees. The exchange issues a token, Cronos. History The company was initially founded in Hong Kon ...

''"Fan Bonus of the Night"'' awards paid in

bitcoin Bitcoin ( abbreviation: BTC; sign: ₿) is a decentralized digital currency that can be transferred on the peer-to-peer bitcoin network. Bitcoin transactions are verified by network nodes through cryptography and recorded in a public distr ...

of US$10,000 for third place. Weili faced reigning champion Carla Esparza for the UFC Women's Strawweight Championship on November 12, 2022, at UFC 281. Zhang won the bout and regained the championship by the way of a rear-naked choke submission in the second round. This win earned her the ''

'' award.

Other ventures

In May 2020, it was announced that Zhang became a brand ambassador for cosmetics brand Estée Lauder in China, and was chosen as a face of their new makeup line Double Wear. In the same year, she appeared in a commercial for Audi. In 2021, she was named a global ambassador for recovery technology company Hyperice. She also had endorsement deals with clothing brands Under Armour and

Heilan Home ''Heilan Home'' () is short for HEILAN HOME CO., LTD(). HLA, established in 2002, is the core fast fashion Fast fashion is a term used to describe the clothing industry's business model of replicating recent catwalk trends and High fashion, hi ...

, e-commerce company JingDong and alcoholic beverage company Wusu Beer.

Championships and accomplishments

Mixed martial arts

* Ultimate Fighting Championship ** UFC Women's Strawweight Championship (Two times, Current) *** One successful title defense **First ever Chinese champion in UFC history ** Fight of the Night (One time) **

(Three times) **2020 UFC President's Choice Fight of the Year vs.

* Kunlun Fight ** KLF Female Strawweight Champion (One time) *** Two successful title defenses * Top Fighting Championship ** Top FC Strawweight Champion (One time) *

MMAJunkie.com MMA Junkie is a news website that covers the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA). It was founded in 2006, and is owned by Gannett Company since 2011. The site and its content have been featured in ''Time (magazine), Time'' magazine'', ''ESPN The Ma ...

**2020 March Fight of the Month vs.

**2020 Fight of the Year vs.

**2022 June Knockout of the Month vs.

**2022 November submission of the Month vs. Carla Esparza **2022 Female Fighter of the Year * World MMA Awards **2019 – July 2020 Fight of the Year vs.

* Wrestling Observer Newsletter **2020 MMA Match of the Year vs.

* MMA Fighting **2020 Fight of the Year vs.

* The Athletic **2020 Fight of the Year vs.

Bleacher Report Bleacher Report (often abbreviated as B/R) is a website that focuses on sport and sports culture. Its headquarters are in San Francisco, with offices in New York City and London. Bleacher Report was acquired by Turner Broadcasting System in Aug ...

**2020 Fight of the Year vs.

*Cageside Press **2020 Fight of the Year vs.

* Sherdog **2020 Fight of the Year vs.

* BT Sport **2020 Fight of the Year vs.

*MMA Weekly **2020 Fight of the Year vs.

*Combat Press **2020 Fight of the Year vs.

* ESPN **2022 Female Fighter of the Year

Mixed martial arts record

, - , Win , align=center, 23–3 , Carla Esparza , Submission (rear-naked choke) , UFC 281 , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 1:05 , New York City, New York, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 22–3 ,

, KO (spinning backfist) , UFC 275 , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 2:28 , Kallang, Singapore , , - , Loss , align=center, 21–3 ,

, Decision (split) ,

, , align=center, 5 , align=center, 5:00 , New York City, New York, United States , , - , Loss , align=center, 21–2 ,

, KO (head kick) , UFC 261 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:18 , Jacksonville, Florida, United States , , , - , Win , align=center, 21–1 ,

, Decision (split) , UFC 248 , , align=center, 5 , align=center, 5:00 , Las Vegas, Nevada, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 20–1 , Jéssica Andrade , TKO (knees and punches) , UFC Fight Night: Andrade vs. Zhang , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:42 , Shenzhen, China , , - , Win , align=center, 19–1 , Tecia Torres , Decision (unanimous) , UFC 235 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 , Las Vegas, Nevada, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 18–1 , Jessica Aguilar , Submission (armbar) , UFC Fight Night: Blaydes vs. Ngannou 2 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 3:41 , Beijing, China , , - , Win , align=center, 17–1 , Danielle Taylor , Decision (unanimous) ,

, , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 , Los Angeles, California, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 16–1 , Bianca Sattelmayer , Submission (armbar) , Kunlun Fight MMA 15 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 3:29 , Seoul, South Korea , , - , Win , align=center, 15–1 , Marilia Santos , TKO (elbows) , Kunlun Fight MMA 14 , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 3:20 , Yantai, China , , - , Win , align=center, 14–1 , Ye Dam Seo , TKO (elbow and punches) , Top FC 15 , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 1:35 , Seoul, South Korea , , - , Win , align=center, 13–1 , Aline Sattelmayer , Decision (unanimous) , Kunlun Fight MMA 12 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 , Yantai, China , , - , Win , align=center, 12–1 , Simone Duarte , TKO (punches) , Kunlun Fight MMA 11 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:29 , Jining, China , , - , Win , align=center, 11–1 , Nayara Hemily , Submission (guillotine choke) , Kunlun Fight MMA 9 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:41 , Sanya, China , , - , Win , align=center, 10–1 , Veronica Grenno , TKO (knees to the body) , Kunlun Fight MMA 8 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:50 , Sanya, China , , - , Win , align=center, 9–1 , Karla Benitez , KO (punch) ,

Kunlun Fight MMA 7 The Kunlun Mountains ( zh, s=昆仑山, t=崑崙山, p=Kūnlún Shān, ; ug, كۇئېنلۇن تاغ تىزمىسى / قۇرۇم تاغ تىزمىسى ) constitute one of the longest mountain chains in Asia, extending for more than . In the bro ...

, , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:15 , Beijing, China , , - , Win , align=center, 8–1 , Maíra Mazar , Submission (rear-naked choke) , Kunlun Fight 53 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 4:11 , Beijing, China , , - , Win , align=center, 7–1 , Emi Fujino , TKO (doctor stoppage) , Kunlun Fight 49 , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 2:51 , Tokyo, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 6–1 , Liliya Kazak , KO (head kick) , Kunlun Fight 47 , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 4:13 , Nanjing, China , , - , Win , align=center, 5–1 , Alice Ardelean , Submission (rear-naked choke) , Kunlun Fight MMA 5 / Top FC 11 , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 4:41 , Seoul, South Korea , , - , Win , align=center, 4–1 , Svetlana Gotsyk , TKO (punches) , Kunlun Fight 38 / Super Muaythai 2016 , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 2:29 ,

Pattaya Pattaya ( th, พัทยา, , ) is a city in Thailand. It is on the east coast of the Gulf of Thailand, about southeast of Bangkok, within, but not part of, Bang Lamung district in the province of Chonburi province, Chonburi. Pattaya City ( ...

, Thailand , , - , Win , align=center, 3–1 , Samantha Jean-Francois , TKO (punches) , Kunlun Fight 35 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 3:37 , Luoyang, China , , - , Win , align=center, 2–1 , Mei Huang , Submission (rear-naked choke) , Chinese Kung Fu Championships , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:40 , Qian'an, China , , - , Win , align=center, 1–1 , Shuxia Wu , Submission (armbar) , Chinese Kung Fu Championships , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:56 , Qian'an, China , , - , Loss , align=center, 0–1 , Meng Bo , Decision (unanimous) , China MMA League , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 5:00 , Xuchang, China , , -

Kickboxing record

, - style="background:#fbb;" , 2017-12-17, , Loss , , align="left" , Guan Acui, , Kunlun Fight 68 , , Zunyi, China , , Decision , , 3 , , 3:00 , - ! colspan="8" style="background:white" , , - style="background:#cfc;" , 2017-12-17, , Win , , align="left" , Chang Ningning , , Kunlun Fight 68 , , Zunyi, China , , Decision , , 3 , , 3:00 , - ! colspan="8" style="background:white" , , - style="background:#cfc;" , 2017-12-17, , Win , , align="left" , Alma Juniku , , Kunlun Fight 68 , , Zunyi, China , , Decision , , 3 , , 3:00 , - ! colspan="8" style="background:white" , , - style="background:#fbb;" , 2013-12-14, , Loss , , align=left, Sasaki , , , , Tokyo, Japan , , Decision (Unanimous) , , 3 , , 3:00 , - , colspan=9 , ''Legend'':

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zhang, Weilli 1989 births Chinese female kickboxers Chinese female mixed martial artists Chinese practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu Female Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioners Chinese sanshou practitioners Kunlun Fight kickboxers Kunlun Fight MMA Fighters Living people Sportspeople from Handan Strawweight mixed martial artists Ultimate Fighting Championship champions Ultimate Fighting Championship female fighters Mixed martial artists utilizing sanshou Mixed martial artists utilizing Shuai Jiao Mixed martial artists utilizing Brazilian jiu-jitsu Kunlun Fight MMA champions