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Coach Pedro Jordao believes Weili Zhang could rule the strawweight throne for a long time.
Riding a twenty fight win streak and a slew of first-round stoppage victories, newly-crowned strawweight champion Weili Zhang is a force to be reckoned with in the UFC.
In fact, longtime coach Pedro Jordao, who trains Zhang out of Black Tiger Fight Club in Beijing, China, believes his prized student could rule the throne for a long time to come and destroy every top strawweight contender in her path.
“She has that potential and talent to beat every girl in the top 10,” Jordao said in a recent interview with MMA Fighting. “A fight is a fight, when the cage closes it’s a competition and the best will win, but she has the potential to beat them all. If I had to bet, I’d bet on her against anyone [laughs].”
“They are all really tough with their own unique style,” he added. “Joanna has great Muay Thai. Tatiana (Suarez) is good in the wrestling area and ground and pound. Michelle Watersonhas good karate. Rose [Namajunas] has good boxing and jiu-jitsu. Every single one has their own style, things that will complicate more or complicate less. The good thing about Zhang is that she’s strong in all areas.”
Speaking of Zhang’s 42-second TKO stoppage win over Jessica Andrade on Saturday, Jordao admits even he was a little surprised with how quickly the fight ended.
“[Zhang] is a beast,” Jordao said “I thought Andrade would get in trouble when she decided to go toe-to-toe with her, but I was surprised she did it so early in the fight. I guess she ate one punch and got angry, just like [Cris] ‘Cyborg’ against Amanda (Nunes). Instead of retreating a little bit, she kept coming forward.
“I didn’t think Jessica would do that so early and come like crazy. We knew she would have problems when she did that.”
Following her sensational title win at UFC Fight Night 157, expect Zhang to crack the official top-fifteen pound-for-pound rankings after the UFC updates its rankings in the coming days.