Photo by Harry How/Getty Images
It was a epic battle in the co-main event of UFC 248 as Weili Zhang defended her title with a split decision against Joanna Jedrzejczyk.
In the co-main event of UFC 248?, Weili Zhang retained her UFC strawweight title with a split decision win against Joanna Jedrzejczyk after an epic back and forth five rounds.
What was the high point of the fight?
As expected, the fight was mostly contested on the feet, with Jedrzejczyk finding her rhythm early on and was good at hitting Zhang then getting out of range. But Zhang’s confidence grew after taking Jedrzejczyk’s best punches and “Magnum” started to land some hard strikes of her own.
Jedrzejczyk had a good third round as Zhang appeared to slow down, but her forehead swelled up greatly after a big punch and takedown from Zhang. In the fourth round Jedrzejczyk was coming on strong putting together some great combinations, throwing more strikes, but with Zhang landing harder head strikes. It was back and forth, but in the fifth round a hard shot from Zhang also did some serious damage to the nose of Jedrzejczyk.
Where do the two go from here?
Zhang surely knew she was in for a tough fight with Jedrzejczyk, but she certainly didn’t expect it to be that much of a dog fight. “Magnum” proved with the five rounds against Jedrzejczyk that she has what it takes to go 25-minutes against the very best in the sport, and don’t be surprised if the UFC runs this fight back.
Jedrzejczyk should hold her head in the loss to Zhang, as you could certainly make the argument that she should have had her hand raised at the end of the fight. The former champ proved she is still one of the greatest strawweights on the roster, and a rematch would make sense once both women have healed up.
Watch it now, later or never?
It was probably the greatest fight in women’s MMA history?, watch it now.
Stiff shot lands after the bell #UFC248 pic.twitter.com/HJTXu40LpR
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) March 8, 2020
Zhang Weili is starting to unload on Joanna #UFC248
Stream #UFC248 on ESPN+ ?? https://t.co/bgI1Songf8 pic.twitter.com/wvijt31fug
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) March 8, 2020
THIS KICK!
Stream #UFC248 on ESPN+ ?? https://t.co/WPvP7mFN8C pic.twitter.com/U0Umlh1Pdf
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) March 8, 2020
“This is insane!” @dc_mma nails it when describing the battle between Zhang Weili and @joannamma at #UFC248 pic.twitter.com/kBYYFsmDNT
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) March 8, 2020