There were certainly no Octagon jitters on display in Weili Zhang’s UFC title bout on Saturday, as it took just 42 seconds for the 30-year-old to KO Jessica Andrade to capture the women’s strawweight title and become the first Chinese champion in the promotion’s history.
From one [former] champ to another, ex-bantamweight queen Ronda Rousey congratulated Zhang on her historic title win, which is a pretty big deal considering ‘Rowdy’ rarely talks MMA these days.
“The future is bright – amazing performanceCongrats champ! @zhangweilimma,” Rousey posted on Instagram yesterday.
Rousey, 32, retired from the UFC after suffering back-to-back knockout losses to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes in 2015/2016. The women’s MMA pioneer then made the transition to professional wrestling, when she signed with WWE in 2017 and soon became Raw women’s champion.
Zhang, who boasts a professional record of 20-1, will likely defend her newly-acquired strawweight title in the new year.
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