Zhang Weili (born August 13, 1989) is a Chinese mixed martial artist. She is the former Kunlun Fight (KLF) strawweight champion and competes in the strawweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where she is a former UFC Women's Strawweight Champion. She is the first ever Chinese and East Asian champion in UFC history. As of April 26, 2021, she is #1 UFC women's strawweight rankings and as of December 13, 2021, she is #5 in UFC women's pound-for-pound rankings.
Background
Zhang was born in Handan, Hebei, China. Her father is a retired mine digger, and her mother is a housewife. She has one older brother, who quit his job as a gold trader to support Zhang's career, and now works at the gym where she trains.
She started training in martial arts at a young age, beginning at 6 with Shaolin Kung Fu under the tutelage of a local master, after she was inspired by Kung Fu films. In primary school, she practiced many sports including athletics, football and table tennis. When she was 12, her parents sent her to a specialized martial arts school in Handan where she began training in Sanda and a Chinese style of wrestling called Shuai Jiao. After winning Sanda championships of the Hebei province multiple times, she was selected for the Jiangsu province Sanda team, however a recurring back injury sustained in training forced her to quit the sport early.
At the age of 17 she moved to Beijing, where she worked various odd jobs: cashier at a supermarket, kindergarten teacher, security guard and hotel desk clerk. In 2010 she found a job at a local Beijing gym as a fitness instructor, and was allowed to use their equipment for free after the gym closed in the evenings. During that time she would also pick up Brazilian jiu-jitsu, after watching others grappling there. She later switched to a front desk job, through which she got to know fighters who trained at the gym, one of them being her idol Wu Haotian, a pioneer of Chinese MMA. After they became acquainted in 2012, Haotian brought her to Black Tiger Fight Club. There, she was noticed by coach Cai Xuejun, who recognized her potential and started training her in MMA.
In a Chinese television show in December 2019, she mentioned that Hong Kong Action Superstar Donnie Yen was her inspiration to compete in MMA, and that Donnie Yen's 2007 feature film Flashpoint was her first introduction to the sport of MMA. She also credited Ronda Rousey, and particularly her fight with Liz Carmouche in 2013, as giving her the motivation to quit her job and pursue MMA full-time.
Mixed martial arts career
Early career
Zhang made her professional MMA debut in 2013. After losing her professional debut to Meng Bo by unanimous decision, she would go on to win 11 straight fights before challenging Simone Duarte for the Kunlun Fight Female Strawweight Championship on May 25, 2017, at Kunlun Fight MMA 11. She won the fight via TKO in the second round.
Zhang made her first title defense against Aline Sattelmayer on June 1, 2017, at Kunlun Fight MMA 12. She won the fight by unanimous decision.
On July 22, 2017, Zhang attempted to win a second title, when she challenged Seo Ye-dam for the vacant Top FC Strawweight Championship at TOP FC 15. She won the fight via TKO in the second round to capture the title.
In her next bout, Zhang made her second KLF title defense on August 28, 2017, at Kunlun Fight MMA 14 against Marilia Santos. She won the fight via TKO in the second round.
Zhang would fight one more time for KLF, amassing a record of 16-1 and improving her winning streak to 16 before signing with the UFC.
Ultimate Fighting Championship
Zhang made her promotion debut on August 4, 2018, at UFC 227 against Danielle Taylor. She won the fight via unanimous decision.
On November 24, 2018, Zhang faced Jessica Aguilar at UFC Fight Night: Blaydes vs. Ngannou 2. She won the fight via a submission in round one.
Zhang faced Tecia Torres on March 3, 2019, at UFC 235. She won the fight via unanimous decision.
UFC Strawweight Champion
Zhang faced Jéssica Andrade for the UFC Women's Strawweight Championship on August 31, 2019, at UFC on ESPN+ 15. She won the fight via first-round technical knockout to become the new Strawweight champion. The win also earned Zhang her first Performance of the Night bonus award.
In the first defense of her title, Zhang was scheduled to face former UFC Strawweight champion Joanna Jędrzejczyk on March 7, 2020, at UFC 248. Zhang moved her training camp from China to Thailand and later moved to Dubai due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as TSA rules stated a two-week quarantine was imposed for any non-US citizen be granted entry to the United States if they had recently been in China. After multiple failed attempts to obtain a US visa to fight in UFC's events in the US, on February 19, 2020, Zhang was granted US visa to fight at UFC 248. Zhang won the back–and–forth fight via split decision, which marked her first successful UFC Strawweight title defense. This win also marked her first Fight of the Night award. This bout was considered by many pundits as the greatest fight in women's MMA history.
In the second defense of her title, Zhang faced Rose Namajunas on April 24, 2021, at UFC 261. She lost the fight by knockout early in the first round after getting caught with a head kick.
A rematch between Zhang and Namajunas for UFC Women's Strawweight Championship took place on November 6, 2021 at UFC 268. After a back and forth bout, Weili lost the bout via split decision. 14 out of 22 media scores gave it to Namajunas.
Other ventures
In May 2020, it was announced that Zhang became a brand ambassador for cosmetics brand Estée Lauder in China, and was chosen as a face of their new makeup line Double Wear. In the same year, she appeared in a commercial for Audi. In 2021, she was named a global ambassador for recovery technology company Hyperice. She also had endorsement deals with clothing brands Under Armour and Heilan Home, e-commerce company JingDong and alcoholic beverage company Wusu Beer.
