UFC 268 fight card primer: Namajunas vs. Weili 2 

Rose Namajunas and Zhang Weili facing off after the pre-fight press conference for UFC 268. | Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

Get up to date on the co-main event of UFC 268 between Rose Namajunas and Zhang Weili.  The…


Rose Namajunas and Zhang Weili facing off after the pre-fight press conference for UFC 268.
Rose Namajunas and Zhang Weili facing off after the pre-fight press conference for UFC 268. | Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

Get up to date on the co-main event of UFC 268 between Rose Namajunas and Zhang Weili. 

The co-main event of UFC 268 will feature a strawweight title fight between Rose Namajunas (10-4 MMA, 8-3 UFC) and Zhang Weili (21-2 MMA, 5-1 UFC). UFC 268: Usman vs. Covington II airs live from Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York this Saturday, November 6th. The ESPN+ PPV main card will start with a fight time of 10:00 p.m. ET/7.00 p.m. PT, with the ESPNews prelims beginning at 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT and the ESPN+ early prelims kicking off at 6:00 p.m. ET/3:00 p.m. PT.

How do these two stack up?

Namajunas: 29 years old | 5’5” | 65” reach

Weili: 32 years old | 5’4” | 63” reach

What have these two done recently?

Namajunas: W – Zhang Weili (KO) | W – Jéssica Andrade (SD) | L – Jéssica Andrade (KO)

Weili: L – Rose Namajunas (KO) | W – Joanna J?drzejczyk (SD) | W – Jéssica Andrade (TKO)

How did these two get here?

Rose Namajunas and Zhang Weili are fighting for the second time this year. The pair fought this past April at UFC 261, where Namajunas finished Weili with a quick first-round head kick and reclaimed the strawweight championship.

Namajunas’ first reign began after she defeated Joanna J?drzejczyk twice in back-to-back outings at UFC 217 and UFC 223. A little over a year later, it came to an end as she was knocked out by Jéssica Andrade with a brutal slam at UFC 237. ’Thug Rose’ would then rematch ‘Bate Estaca’ and earned a split decision win over the fellow former champion at UFC 251. The win against Andrade saw Namajunas receive another championship opportunity, which came against Weili.

Weili won the title and became the first Chinese champion in the UFC with a stunning 42-second knockout of Andrade at UFC Shenzhen. Her first title defense came against J?drzejczyk at UFC 248 and both women stole the show with a ‘Fight of the Year’ candidate. Weili edged out a split decision.

Why should you care?

The first fight ended in 78 seconds. Perhaps the rematch can go beyond that and we see a different fight between these two pound-for-pound greats.