With that being said, one could reasonably argue that Zhang is not only the reigning strawweight champion, but also among the greatest strawweights of all time. Most recently, Zhang Weili successfully defended her title against former strawweight queen Joanna Jędrzejczyk in an epic back-and-forth clash that may become 2020’s fight of the year. A former Kunlun Fight strawweight champion, Zhang won her UFC debut back in 2018 against Danielle Taylor by unanimous decision.įast-forward to exactly 12 months and two fights later, and Zhang Weili was ranked no.6 in the women’s strawweight rankings finding herself in her home country fighting for the title against a relentless Jessica Andrade.ĭespite coming in as the underdog, Zhang successfully brought home the gold and finished Andrade in only 42 seconds to become China’s first UFC champion.
Zhang Weili: China’s First UFC Championĭespite losing her first pro bout to current One Championship atomweight contender Meng Bo, Zhang Weili hasn’t lost since, boasting an impressive 21-1 record. In a quick turn of events, however, Li Jingliang is now on a roll, having won 7 of his 9 last fights with 5 knockouts, including one over Capoeira mestre Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos, which momentarily earned Li a spot in the Top 15 Welterweight rankings. Unfortunately, Li was handed his second UFC loss by Keita Nakamura shortly after, making it 2-2 for the Chinese fighter in his first 4 UFC bouts. Li Jingliang is Chinas most experienced UFC veteran Li lost his next match against Nordine Taleb, but bounced back with a knockout win over Dhiego Lima that earned Li his first Performance of the Night bonus. Li Jingliang: China’s Most Experienced UFC VeteranĪfter winning the Legend FC welterweight championship, Li “The Leech” Jingliang signed with the UFC in 2014 and won his debut against undefeated prospect David Michaud via split decision. Although none of the contestants from the show have fought in the UFC since 2016, The Ultimate Fighter: China was essential to the acquiring of many of the elite Chinese talent in the UFC today. Welterweight Zhang Lipeng and featherweight Ning Guangyou were the winners of the show. With former Strikeforce middleweight champion Cung Le as the chief coach, The Ultimate Fighter: China brought together some of China’s best featherweight and welterweight talent at the time.įighters were split into the teams Sky Dragons and Flying Lions, who were head-coached by Zhang Tiequan and Ao Hailin respectively. In 2013, the UFC aired its first “The Ultimate Fighter” reality show in China. Nevertheless, Zhang opened the door to the UFC for future Chinese prospects including current welterweight Li Jingliang, whom Zhang mentored. With the WEC later merging with the UFC, Zhang tagged along and became China’s first ever UFC fighter.Īlthough Zhang won his UFC debut via another submission, he lost his next 3 bouts and ended his UFC career with a lackluster 1-3 record. Zhang kept his 100% finishing rate and undefeated record intact with a submission win over Pablo Garza in his WEC debut, but then lost to Danny Downes via unanimous decision. This would secure Zhang’s legacy as the first Chinese fighter to be signed by a major MMA promotion.
A master in sanshou and China’s first Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, Zhang spent most of his career in Art of War, China’s largest promotion at the time, and amassed an undefeated 13-0 record with a 100% finishing rate before taking his talent overseas by signing with World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC).
Zhang Tiequan was quite the national hero. With that said, let’s take a look at the rising up of Chinese mixed martial arts talent in the big leagues in MMA Kung-Fusion: Rise of the Chinese Fighters! Zhang Tiequan: China’s First UFC Fighter With Zhang Weili becoming China’s first UFC champion as well as the first UFC champion out of all of East Asia since Kenichi Yamamoto in 2000, China is now producing solid prospects at an accelerating rate in the UFC and other major promotions such as One Championship, with a few even making the Top 15 rankings in their respective weight classes. The Mecca of kung fu and martial arts development and practise for over 1,500 years, China has also been on the rise to becoming a prominent MMA powerhouse in recent years.Īlthough most of China’s early UFC fighters, including China’s very first UFC fighter, Zhang Tiequan and all the alumni from The Ultimate Fighter: China didn’t fare that well (not having been around since 2016), to say that this is typical of all Chinese MMA talent would not only be a severe understatement, but a serious crime!