Photo by Brandon Magnus/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC
Weili Zhang lived up to the hype earlier today (Sat., Aug. 31, 2019) at UFC on ESPN+ 15 live on ESPN+ from inside Universiade Sports Centre in Shenzhen, China, when he upset UFC women’s strawweight champion Jessica Andrade via first-round TKO (knees and punches) in their main event affair.
Zhang was more than willing to exchange with the heavy-handed Andrade early and it paid off. During a flurry along the cage in the opening moments of the first round Zhang caught Andrade with a counter right hand and stunned her. The Chinese contender followed that up with ferocious knees inside to the head and body that started to wilt the Brazilian. Andrade fell back across the cage, Zhang landed a few more punches and the referee stepped in for the quick stoppage,
Check out the finish above courtesy of UFC/ESPN.
With this performance, Zhang not only becomes UFC’s first Chinese champion but she takes out one of the most intimidating female fighters in the world today. Zhang was given considerable respect coming into this title fight considering she had won her previous 19 pro fights, but few believed she would steamroll Andrade the way she did.
Looks like UFC knew what it was doing by giving Zhang a title shot just 12 months into her promotional career.
For complete UFC Shenzhen results and coverage click here.