It was the Champions’ night as Zhang Weili also retained her Strawweight title after winning former unbeaten champion Tatiana Suarez.
Before Zhang’s match against Suarez, she had picked up convincing wins during her second run as champion. She dominated Carla Esparza, Amanda Lemos and Yan Xiaonan and she was ready for Tatiana.
“I respect Tatiana, and she was very strong,” Zhang said. “It’s OK that I was the betting underdog.”
As expected, the fight did not come without twists and turns, however, Zhang overcame them all. Suarez brought the fight to her from the beginning, throwing punches and attempting a submission, but Zhang wriggled out of them all.
Soon enough, Zhang started dominating, throwing strikes that stuttered Suarez and caused the match to slow down a bit. It was like Zhang had taken her time to study her challenger and was prepared to counter every move she made.
With some clinical moves and anticipation, Zhang put Suarez on her back in the third round for the first time in her career. It was impressive.
“When you look at Weili, she’s one of the greatest of all time. The best female fighter in the sport right now,” UFC president Dana White said.
“At the press conference, Tatiana was talking about what she was gonna do, what about her wrestling, and Weili said this isn’t a wrestling match, this is a fight. And she actually outwrestled Tatiana tonight. Absolute stud.”
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