Just a few weeks before the UFC closed its doors as the world stood still because of the global COVID-19 pandemic, fans witnessed one of the greatest fights in the promotion’s history at UFC 248.
On March 7, 2020, the UFC returned to the T-Mobile Arena, where then-middleweight champion Israel Adesanya defended his title against Yoel Romero in the UFC 248 main event.
Unfortunately, that fight was widely considered one of the most dull matchups in UFC history, ultimately flopping badly.
Despite that, the main event spotlighted a thrilling five-round battle for the women’s strawweight title, where Weili Zhang defended her championship against the consensus greatest of all time in the weight class, Joanna Jedrzejczyk.
After successfully defending her title five times, Joanna earned her reputation as the greatest strawweight fighter of all time. However, her reign came to an unfortunate halt in 2017 when Rose Namajunas defeated her.
Following several matches where she struggled to string together consecutive victories, Joanna received another title shot at UFC 248, which marked Weili’s first title defense.
In the lead-up to the fight, Zhang faced numerous challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic and had to change the location of her training camp multiple times in order to secure a U.S. visa.
Though Joanna was perceived to be nearing the end of her career due to her recent results, there was still a consensus among analysts that her skills made her a considerable threat.
From the opening bell, the former strawweight queen showcased her abilities, immediately taking the fight to Weili, whom she faced as a formidable opponent.
After two outstanding rounds, Weili began landing clean strikes on Joanna’s forehead by the middle of the third round, which visibly caused swelling.
As the fight unfolded into the fifth and final round, Jedrzejczyk appeared almost unrecognizable, her head having swollen considerably from absorbing damage throughout the intense and close contest.
Weili retained her title after a split decision win, with the fight being praised as one of the greatest in history and undoubtedly the best female MMA fight ever.
Fast forward four years to today: after losing and regaining the strawweight title, the 35-year-old champion still reigns supreme over the 115-pound division.
Earlier this year at UFC 300, Zhang defended her title in one of the most significant female fights when she faced fellow countrywoman, Yan Xiaonan.
Weili successfully defended her belt after dominating Xiaonan for five full rounds. It was recently announced that ‘Magnum’ will defend her title again at UFC 312 on February 8, this time against the undefeated Tatiana Suarez.
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