The former women’s strawweight champion is already plotting her path back to the title, and is asking the UFC for an immediate rematch.
UFC 261 was a shockingly short night for former women’s strawweight champ Zhang Weili.
After a tough as nails fight of the year against Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 248, everyone was expecting a knock down drag out war against her next opponent, Rose Namajunas. Instead, “Thug Rose” threw a quick headkick that landed flush on Zhang’s jaw just past the first minute (watch the highlights here). The fight was basically over before it even got started.
It all happened so fast that Zhang didn’t even realize she’d been knocked out. The Chinese star argued with officials through the post-fight interviews, insisting she was still conscious. And while she didn’t argue that point further in her official statement following the fight, she did ask the UFC to schedule a rematch soon.
“I want to congratulate Rose on her victory,” Weili wrote on Instagram. “She bounced back from her defeat. I believe I will also come back, only beat a great champion, to become a legend, and beat a legend, I will become a new me. Before, my goal was to win the UFC championship, but today, I have a higher goal than that.”
“Thank you! It’s normal to lose and win. That’s the UFC. Andrade, Joanna, Rose have all lost and they all come back and try again. I have deepened my understanding of UFC today. So I believe I can come back. Hopefully the UFC will schedule a rematch soon.”
Between Zhang’s popularity and a lack of solid contenders lined up, it sounds like she may get her wish.
Obviously the rematch, that’s a fun fight and I think a lot of people would be excited about that fight,” UFC president Dana White said at the post-fight press conference. “I don’t make fights the night of the fight, but I’m just saying off the top of my head … that makes a lot of sense.”
The most beautiful thing about Rose’s headkick is that it comes inside the guard of Zhang. Such perfect timing.
Zhang on the other side saw it coming as an inside leg kick (hips movement pull back)
Beautiful. #UFC261 pic.twitter.com/0uL4GdNAU8— Sweet Punch Memories (@SweetPmemories) April 25, 2021
As for Rose Namjunas’ thoughts on the situation? She seemed more interesting in seeing who would come out of the upcoming Yan Xiaonan vs. Carla Esparza fight set for May 22nd.
“We’ll talk about it,” Namajunas said when asked about a rematch. “It’s understandable that [Weili] is pretty upset about how quickly it went and everything like that … so I’d be open to it, and we’ll have to see.”