I have to admit that after living in Asia nearly 15 years that I tend to be hopeful that the Asian contestants will do well in every UFC event that i watch. There really aren't many of them as this sport tends to be dominated by Americans, Brazilians, and a sprinkling of Russians and other Europeans. It's been a long time coming but today, 31-August can be remembered as that first time that an Asian has held a belt in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Her name is Weili Zhang and she is the new strawweight champion of the world. She defeated Jessica Andrade ( who was a very heavy favorite by Vegas lines) in a mere 42 seconds by knockout.
Andrade is no joke. She is defintely to be feared because she is known for swarming and brutalizing her opponents the way that she won her belt over Rose Namajunas by way of... get this... slam. This hasn't happened many times but . Which is precisely what she did to everyone that she faced on the way to her first title defense.
source lights out! I really liked Rose too
The match was incredible and I made a small bet inside the pub i was in only because I was rooting for the Asians. I really knew nothing about Weili Zhang other than the fact that she was 19-1 with her only defeat coming really early in her career.
At the start of the fight Weili Zhang was immediately on the defensive as she backpedaled from the very aggressive Andrade charge. But a few really well-placed elbows to the head and knees to the body changed all of that action, real quick.
The only videos I can find of this at the moment are extremely poor quality so I suppose you will just have to take my word for it, but it was an incredible fight. One of the pals at my table took a very unfortunate bathroom break and missed all of it.
Weili Zhang is now the world-champion and while these belts in the UFC change hands faster than smuggled cocaine, it is a truly momentous occassion because Weili Zhang is the very first Asian to ever hold a belt in what is considered the top-tier of mixed martial arts fighting at UFC.
For copyright reasons, i have intentionally not posted a clip of the fight but I encourage you to find it if you can. It is only 42 seconds long and well, this is a really big moment in fight history, especially for the Chinese fight fans. I'd imagine we'll be seeing a lot more of them in the future.