Strawweight champion Weili Zhang has surprisingly moved above flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko in the latest UFC’s women’s pound-for-pound rankings update.
The first ever Chinese UFC champion made a successful first title defence against Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 248 this past weekend. Zhang earned a razor thin split decision victory in an all-time great fight in the co-main event.
According to the media members in charge of the UFC rankings system, that win was enough to make her the #2 female fighter. That’s above Ukrainian Shevchenko who sits in third and one spot below double-champ Amanda Nunes who tops the list.
This is quite the surprise considering Shevchenko has had a long reign at the top of MMA. ‘Bullet’ is the inaugural flyweight UFC champion and has three defences of her 125lb title.
Last time out she dominated and stopped top flyweight contender Katlyn Chookagian‘ at UFC 247. Besides that her record is littered with big wins over stars in the sport including Holly Holm, Liz Carmouche, Julian Pena and Joanna Jedrezejcyzk – who she beat much easier than Zhang did. Check out the full updated womens pound-for-pound rankings below.
WOMEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND RANKINGS
- Amanda Nunes
- Weili
Zhang +1 - Valentina
Shevchenko -1 - Jessica
Andrade - Joanna Jedrzejczyk
- Rose
Namajunas - Tatiana Suarez
- Holly
Holm -1 - Germaine
De Randamie - Aspen Ladd
- Katlyn Chookagian
- Jessica Eye
- Julianna Pena
- Nina Ansaroff
- Claudia Gadelha
Should
Weili Zhang be rated above Valentina Shevchenko in the women’s P4P rankings?