Before Israel Adesanya and Yoel Romero tangle for UFC gold, the first of two title fights at this weekend’s UFC 248 pits former strawwight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk against the woman who now wears the crown, China’s Zhang Weili.
For the Pole Jedrzejczyk, this represents a chance to reassume her status as one of the sport’s most feared female combatants after that reputation was dulled somewhat by a pair of losses to Rose Namajunas, and another to flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko.
Before that trio of defeats, Jedrzejczyk was an irrepressible champion. Through 14 fights (eight of those in the UFC), no one had appeared even closed to her equal, as evidenced by victories in six successive UFC title fights.
That run came to an end in New York City in 2017 when Namajunas sensationally scored a first-round TKO win against the dominant champion. Afterwards, Jedrzejczyk swore to regain a UFC championship but her next two titles fights – a rematch with Namajunas and the flyweight encounter with Shevchenko – proved fruitless.
However, the 32-year-old knows that defeat in a third straight UFC title bout across two different weight categories could well signal the end of her as a viable contender for gold in the UFC, leaving very little room for error in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
There is just one problem, though, and her name is Zhang Weili.
The Chinese fighter is undefeated in 20 straight fights, four of those in the UFC including her last performance – a 42-second shellacking of former champion Jessica Andrade to become the first fighter of Chinese and East Asian ancestry to capture UFC gold.
For all of Jedrzejczyk’s laser-sighted accuracy and pinpoint strikes, Zhang offers something of a different conundrum: extreme pressure.
She has finished 17 of her 20 wins inside the distance and rarely affords opponents time to catch their breath, let alone mount offence of their own.
There is a personal element to this rivalry also, after Jedrzejczyk was forced to issue an apology for making light of the coronavirus outbreak in a meme featuring an image of Zhang.
“To make fun of tragedy is a true sign of one’s character,” Zhang wrote of the incident in January.
“Say what you want about me if it makes you feel stronger but do not joke about what’s happening here. I wish you good health until March 7th. I will see you soon.”
