Tag: Zhang Weili

Video: UFC strawweight champ Zhang Weili picks up 300+ pound NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal

Zhang WeiliReigning UFC strawweight world champion Zhang Weili may come in a small package, but she packs a big punch and plenty of power. Fresh off her dominant unanimous decision victory over Amanda Lemos at UFC 292 in August, Zhang showed off some of that iconic strength by lifting up 7’1? and 325-pound NBA Hall of […]

Zhang Weili

Reigning UFC strawweight world champion Zhang Weili may come in a small package, but she packs a big punch and plenty of power.

Fresh off her dominant unanimous decision victory over Amanda Lemos at UFC 292 in August, Zhang showed off some of that iconic strength by lifting up 7’1″ and 325-pound NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal in a clip, which you can see below, courtesy of Parry Punch on X.

It’s not the first time Zhang Weili has shown off her strength by picking up someone more than twice her size. Last year, a video of ‘Magnum’ raising former UFC heavyweight world champion Francis Ngannou off the ground in a similar fashion went viral.

What’s Next for Zhang Weili?

After suffering back-to-back losses against ‘Thug’ Rose Namajunas in 2021, Zhang Weili bounced back with three straight wins kicked off by a stunning second-round knockout against Joanna J?drzejczyk in a rematch of their 2020 classic. From there, ‘Magnum’ reclaimed the strawweight title with a rear-naked choke submission of two-time titleholder Carla Esparza at UFC 281.

With her decisive five-round performance against Amanda Lemos, Zhang improved her record to 8-2 inside the Octagon and 24-3 overall.

What comes next for ‘Magnum’ is yet to be determined, but the likeliest options have her competing against fellow countrywoman Yan Xiaonan or undefeated Covina, California native Tatiana Suarez.

“She’s good,” Zhang said of Suarez during the UFC 292 post-fight press event. “She’s undefeated. She’s a very good fighter. I think she can be a potential challenger next.”

Who would you like to see Zhang compete against in her next strawweight title defense?

UFC 292 fighter salaries: Zhang Weili nets more than both Sean O’Malley, Aljamain Sterling in title defense

UFC 292 fighter salary Zhang Weili tops list ahead of Sean O'Malley and Aljamain SterlingA disclosed list of fighter pay salaries for this month’s UFC 292 pay-per-view event at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts has been released, with undisputed strawweight champion, Zhang Weili netting more than both newly-minted bantamweight best, Sean O’Malley, and former gold holder, Aljamain Stelring.  Co-headlining the flagship event in ‘Bean Town’, Chinese gold holder, […]

UFC 292 fighter salary Zhang Weili tops list ahead of Sean O'Malley and Aljamain Sterling

A disclosed list of fighter pay salaries for this month’s UFC 292 pay-per-view event at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts has been released, with undisputed strawweight champion, Zhang Weili netting more than both newly-minted bantamweight best, Sean O’Malley, and former gold holder, Aljamain Stelring. 

Co-headlining the flagship event in ‘Bean Town’, Chinese gold holder, Zhang Weili successfully defended the strawweight crown for the first time as part of her second title reign – landing a one-sided unanimous decision win over surging Brazilian challenger, Amanda Lemos.

In the night’s main event, Dana White’s Contender Series alum, O’Malley minted himself as the undisputed bantamweight champion with a spectacular second round win over the defending, Sterling – landing a series of hammering ground strikes to turn in a second round TKO win.

And despite the hugely-backed O’Malley’s champonship-clinching win, the Montana native missed out on the top spot for disclosed salaries at UFC 292, with Hebei native, Weili topping the charts.

Zhang Weili tops the disclosed fighter salary list for her title defense at UFC 292

Below, check out the full list of disclosed salaries from UFC 292, made available by the Massachusetts Officie of Public Safety and Inspections, upon request from MMA Fighting.

Sean O’Malley ($500,000 + no win bonus) vs. Aljamain Sterling ($500,000)

Zhang Weili ($520,000 + no win bonus) vs. Amanda Lemos ($250,000)

Ian Machado Garry ($50,000 + $50,000 win bonus) vs. Neil Magny ($134,000)

Mario Bautista ($43,000 + $43,000) vs. Da’Mon Blackshear ($27,000)

Marlon Vera ($155,000 + $155,000) vs. Pedro Munhoz ($150,000)

Brad Tavares ($100,000 + $100,000) vs. Chris Weidman ($426,000)

Gregory Rodrigues ($50,000 + $50,000) vs. Denis Tiuliulin ($14,000)

Kurt Holobaugh ($15,000 + $15,000) vs. Austin Hubbard ($32,000)

Brad Katona ($32,000 + $32,000) vs. Cody Gibson ($15,000)

Andre Petroski ($18,000 + $18,000) vs. Gerald Meerschaert ($100,000)

Natalia Silva ($40,000 + $40,000) vs. Andrea Lee ($70,000)

Karine Silva ($14,000 vs. $14,000) vs. Maryna Moroz ($50,000)

Zhang Weili welcomes title fight with Tatiana Suarez after UFC 292 victory: ‘She can be a challenger next’

Zhang Weili welcomes title fight with Tatiana Suarez after UFC 292 she could be nextSuccessfully defending her undisputed strawweight championship over the course of last weekend in the co-main event of UFC 292, Chinese favorite, Zhang Weili has welcomed the possibility of a showdown against unbeaten grappler, Tatiana Suarez next.  Co-headlining last Saturday’s pay-per-view return to the TD Garden, Hebei native, Weili turned in her first successful title defense […]

Zhang Weili welcomes title fight with Tatiana Suarez after UFC 292 she could be next

Successfully defending her undisputed strawweight championship over the course of last weekend in the co-main event of UFC 292, Chinese favorite, Zhang Weili has welcomed the possibility of a showdown against unbeaten grappler, Tatiana Suarez next. 

Co-headlining last Saturday’s pay-per-view return to the TD Garden, Hebei native, Weili turned in her first successful title defense of her second strawweight title reign, knocking back Brazilian contender, Amanda Lemos over the course of five rounds in a relatively dominant unanimous decision (50-43, 50-44, 49-45) win over the surging Belem native.

Moving to 24-3 as a professional, Weili, who has struck undisputed strawweight gold for the second time back in November of last year, laid waste to inaugural division champion, Carla Esparza with a stunning second round rear-naked choke win.

Zhang Weili welcomes title defense against Tatiana Suarez next

And with a host of strawweight talent laying in the wings awaiting a title fight with Weili, the Chinese all-rounder has welcomed the prospect of sharing the Octagon with undefeated Ultimate Fighter winner, Suarez next.

“She’s good,” Zhang Weili told assembled media of Tatiana Suarez following UFC 292. “She’s undefeated. She’s a very good fighter. I think she can be a potentially challenger next.”

“I started my training camp this time since March, so I left my home for a couple months – such a long time,” Zhang Weili explained. “The only thing in my mind right now is just returning to home together with my family.” 

Improving her undefeated record to 10-0 this year following her return from an over three year layoff, Californian grappling ace, Suarez returned with a guillotine choke win over Montana De La Rosa back in February, before submitting former champions and common-foe, Jessica Andrade with the same choke at UFC Nashville just earlier this month. 

Would you like to see Zhang Weili fight Tatiana Suarez in her next UFC outing?

Twitter Reacts to Zhang Weili’s dominant victory over Amanda Lemos at UFC 292: ‘She is an animal’

Zhang Weili Amanda Lemos UFC 292Zhang Weili made quite the impact at UFC 292 with her dominant performance over Amanda Lemos. The media, fans, and even fellow fighters didn’t hesitate to give her props, which led to an extreme amount of tweets on Saturday night praising Zhang’s fantastic efforts. Despite the smothering offense of Zhang, Lemos would not give up […]

Zhang Weili Amanda Lemos UFC 292

Zhang Weili made quite the impact at UFC 292 with her dominant performance over Amanda Lemos. The media, fans, and even fellow fighters didn’t hesitate to give her props, which led to an extreme amount of tweets on Saturday night praising Zhang’s fantastic efforts.

Despite the smothering offense of Zhang, Lemos would not give up and was fully prepared to give Zhang five rounds of war. While Lemos had her moments, it was pretty apparent that the Chinese superstar Zhang was taking every round. Her grappling prowess would shine against the Brazillian and Lemos was hard-pressed to keep things standing. Even on the feet though, Zhang would prove to be more advanced. The Chinese superstar outstruck Lemos 50-23 at a distance, and in total: 296-24.

It was truly a standout performance by Zhang Weili, and the world didn’t hesitate a second before singing her praises on social media platforms like Twitter.

Twitter reacts to Zhang Weili’s impressive performance at UFC 292

“Weili completely dominated every round,” fellow fighter Tracy Cortez would say.

“Amazing fight by the champion Zhang Weili,” Casey Oneill tweeted.

“50-45 Weili for me. Some of those coulda been 10-8’s, I just didn’t go there myself,” Jillian DeCoursey would state. She was speaking on the fact that one of the judges ultimately chose to give Amanda Lemos a round. This was a fact that was met with pure mockery by the MMA world, as virtually everybody is of the opinion that Zhang Weili won every round.

In fact, Ben Askren was of the same opinion. After the judges’ decision was read, Askren would take to Twitter and demand answers for what he viewed as atrocious judging.

“Which one of these idiot judges gave Lemos a round???” Askren demanded. In the comments, many fans declared Zhang should’ve won 5-0, but there was a slight percentage of people that believed it was at least debatable that Zhang lost the fourth round to Lemos. Regardless, it was still a clean-cut victory for the Chinese champion, and one she can be proud of for a long time.

Do you think Amanda Lemos won round four in her match with Zhang Weili at UFC 292?

Zhang Weili retains strawweight title with dominant unanimous decision over Amanda Lemos – UFC 292 Highlights

Zhang WeiliZhang Weili delivered one of the most dominant performances of her career, dispatching Amanda Lemos in the UFC 292 co-main event on Saturday night. Zhang Weili established her dominance from the get-go, taking Lemos to the ground and smothering her with superior strength and grappling. However, Lemos nearly caught the strawweight champ in a darce […]

Zhang Weili

Zhang Weili delivered one of the most dominant performances of her career, dispatching Amanda Lemos in the UFC 292 co-main event on Saturday night.

Zhang Weili established her dominance from the get-go, taking Lemos to the ground and smothering her with superior strength and grappling. However, Lemos nearly caught the strawweight champ in a darce choke from the bottom. Unfortunately, Lemos was unable to gain control of Zhang’s lower half, allowing the champ to slide into side control as a way to defend against the maneuver. Before long, Lemos relinquished the hold and Zhang unleashed a flurry of ground-and-pound strikes as the first five minutes came to a close.

The second and third rounds saw Zhang in complete control, taking Lemos down at will and stifling the challenger’s offense.

The tide slowly began to turn in the fourth round as Zhang opted to stay on her feet and strike with Lemos. After eating a couple of solid shots from Lemos, Zhang opted to shoot for a takedown but nearly found herself in another darce choke attempt. Whilst fighting her way out of the hold, Lemos was able to scramble back to her feet, but she couldn’t muster enough offense to steal the round.

Coming out for the fifth and final round, Zhang Weili was determined to put an exclamation point on her performance and nearly did just that, sitting Lemos down with a massive right hand in the early moments of the round. Zhang unleashed a flurry of strikes in an attempt to earn the finish, but Lemos never once gave up, surviving the onslaught until the final horn sounded.

Official Result: Zhang Weili def. Amanda Lemos via unanimous decision (50-43, 50-44, 49-45)

Check Out Highlights From Zhang Weili vs. Amanda Lemos at UFC 292 Below: