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On April 24, Beijing time, the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) officially announced that Chinese mixed martial artist Zhang Weili will fight Joanna Janjechaik again in the UFC275 women's grassweight competition held in Singapore on June 12, Beijing time.
On March 8, 2020, Zhang Weili and Joanna had a direct conversation, which was also the first defending battle after Zhang Weili won the championship, when the two fought extremely fiercely, after 5 rounds of fighting, Zhang Weili won with difficulty, and the match was rated as "the best game of the year in UFC" and was also known as "the most wonderful women's duel in UFC history".
It is worth mentioning that after that game, Joanna never played again, and she was also removed from the UFC official ranking list because she did not play for a long time. And Zhang Weili's "octagonal cage" career is also facing a lot of crisis: in the defending battle in April 2021, Zhang Weili was KO by Ross Namayunas, the whole game lasted only 78 seconds, Zhang Weili lost the golden belt; in November 2021, Zhang Weili fought Rose again as a challenger, this time after 5 rounds of competition, Zhang Weili lost to the opponent with a small score and failed to regain the golden belt. However, after the game, Rose expressed his respect to Zhang Weili in an interview, "Weili has made great progress, she let me know what I should do now." ”
After losing the "second battle" with Rose, Zhang Weili has been looking forward to being able to engage in "three battles" with her as soon as possible, so as to regain her own golden belt. However, according to the rules of the UFC, after a challenger fails to challenge the champion, he usually needs to win another 1 or 2 games to get the chance to challenge the championship again, so Zhang Weili will have to defeat 1 or 2 opponents before challenging Rose for the third time (if Rose still has a gold belt at that time).
According to the convention, Zhang Weili's opponent should be the current top five boxers, but the second-ranked Carla Espaza is likely to have a championship battle with Rose, veteran Rodriguez and Dunn are reluctant to take over for the time being, and unless they compete for the championship or the right to challenge the championship, the UFC official will not arrange Zhang Weili to play against another Chinese power, yan Xiaonan, who is currently ranked fifth, "Fury", so Zhang Weili's "old acquaintance" Joanna has become the best choice.
Although Joanna has been removed from the rankings due to a long period of time without competition, her influence is still very large, she is still one of the greatest athletes in the UFC women's grassweight class who has defended her title five times, and more importantly, her classic battle with Zhang Weili has always been talked about, and in terms of the popularity of the two players and the market behind them, their "second battle" is still the highest-grossing.
“
After two years, I am very excited to play against my old opponent again, and I believe that this is a very, very good game, and a very meaningful game. I will be going to Thailand with my team to train and prepare. For this second world war, I will do my best, and please wait and see.
——Chinese mixed martial artist Zhang Weili
”
Of course, for Zhang Weili, the purpose of her re-fight against Joanna this time is to sweep away the haze with a victory and accumulate strength and confidence in achieving the ultimate goal of "the return of the king". In fact, looking back at the two duels with Rose, Zhang Weili lost very unconvinced, a wartime, Zhang Weili visited Jacksonville, Florida, when the epidemic spread rapidly, Florida was a "crimson state", and it was also one of the regions with the highest support rate of US President Trump at that time. Zhang Weili, who was on the field, faced not only Rose, but also 15,000 spectators in the stands. At the beginning of that game, Zhang Weili hit all 5 attacks on Rose, and she deliberately showed a lot of relaxation, just to tell everyone on the scene - I didn't care about boos and insults, but it was a moment of relaxation, and Rose sent a fatal blow.
After losing a battle with Rose, Zhang Weili was very unhappy with the result, she thought that the referee prematurely called off the game, and many netizens at that time also attacked Zhang Weili for "can't afford to lose". For the outside world's doubts and criticism, Zhang Weili responded, "They have not experienced what I have experienced, so I don't want to worry about these things with them, if I experience what I have experienced, they may be more unacceptable than me, more extreme than me." ”
The second time as a challenger in New York's Madison Garden Plaza again again again, Zhang Weili went to the United States 7 weeks in advance to prepare, in order to improve her ability to resist the pressure of away games. At that time, her training team also specifically found some people to come and boo her, scold her, and use the stereo to amplify the booing. However, for Zhang Weili, this bigger challenge comes from the weight reduction before the game. At that time, Zhang Weili tried to lose weight in the sauna according to the advice of the American team, and she had been relying on running to reduce weight. The experience of losing weight made her miserable, from nine o'clock in the evening to the morning, there were still 0.4 kilograms left to fall, and finally she could only spit and spit until "the whole person was dry". Although Zhang Weili finally passed the thrill, she was only more than 30 hours away from the race.
Sure enough, Zhang Weili, who played beautifully in the first three rounds of the game, was physically weak in the last two rounds of the game, and in her words, by the fifth round, her arm was "already too soft to be able to do it". It is worth mentioning that after the "second battle" with Rose, Zhang Weili had already urinated blood during the urine test, and later the doctor told her that this was because of her severe lack of water - after rapid weight loss, her hydration and recovery work were not done enough, which directly led to her premature exhaustion of physical strength during the game.
However, everything has two aspects, although the two losses to Ross made Zhang Weili unwilling, but she also ushered in the peace of life and the company of family affection. After returning from the competition, Zhang Weili returned to her hometown in Handan for two weeks, which was the longest time she stayed at home in seven or eight years. The days of spending time with her parents allowed her to regain her feelings of happiness and ease. After charging at home, Zhang Weili returned to Beijing to start a new training, and at this time she felt surrounded by an unprecedented calm, which was the first time she felt what is really "peace of mind".
Interestingly, after the "most exciting women's game in UFC history" two years ago, Zhang Weili and Joanna were taken to the hospital, lying in adjacent beds. In the hospital room, Joanna cried in pain all the time, and the words she said to Zhang Weili almost moved Zhang Weili to tears, "Continue to defend the title, I will look at you, but it will definitely be more and more difficult later." ”
Sure enough, Zhang Weili then experienced an overnight fall into the trough of life, full of great joy and sorrow in the world. But in any case, now that Zhang Weili has returned full of blood, she will work with Joanna in the octagonal cage to dedicate the classic, which is exactly the sentence - every story has an ending, but sometimes the ending is a new beginning.
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