2020 "March 8th Goddess Day",
On the hot search, it was dominated by a girl named Zhang Weili.
In the video, she is wearing a national flag, her face is red and swollen, and she shouts at the crowd.
The girl standing next to her whose face has been severely deformed,
It is Joanna from Poland, who is also zhang Weili's opponent in this game.
The battle was fought over 5 rounds, and the battle was fierce.
Zhang Weili defeated the arrogant Joanna and successfully defended the title.
Became China's first UFC grassweight world champion.
Looking at this girl, the story that happened to her can be called "legendary".
01
Zhang Weili was born on September 30, 1990 in a village in the Fengfeng Mining Area of Handan, Hebei Province.
The family was not well-off, and his parents were ordinary coal miners.
When she was young, unlike other girls, she had a cheerful personality like a boy.
In the eyes of everyone, she is not afraid of heaven, she is a veritable "tomboy." ”
At that time, Hong Kong martial arts films were popular, which made Zhang Weili a "martial arts fan".
Every day, I think about learning light exercises, flying cornices and walking on the wall.
In school, she couldn't see the girls in the class being bullied.
Often "do heroic deeds", run to fight with boys.
In the eyes of the teacher, she is a "problem student" who is disobedient and loves to fight.
When other little girls jump on leather bands, kick shuttlecocks, play with dolls,
She was playing yo-yo, living mud, and throwing cards.
When other little girls learn to dance and piano,
She quarreled with her parents about going to the martial arts school to learn Sanda.
In the eyes of all the neighbors, this short-haired and playful woman has never looked like a girl.
Such a boyish personality, she also has the most feared thing, that is, injections.
As long as she is sick, she is afraid to hide, and several people will have to hold her down when she is injected.
Such a Zhang Weili is really interesting and cute.
Some people on the Internet say that Zhang Weili's mother has a way to educate her children.
It is called "Hebei Golden Belt Parenting Method".
It's about taking a shovel and digging a pit in the yard of the house, letting her go in and jumping out on her own.
After she can jump out, she will dig deeper, in order to exercise the strength of her legs and feet.
It is said that Zhang Weili has practiced this way since she was a child.
When she was in elementary school, she dared to jump directly from the window on the second floor of the school to the tree outside the window.
Then sneak down with the tree to skip class.
At the age of 6, Zhang Weili learned to punch with a traditional martial arts teacher in the village.
At a young age, she played like a decent one.
Relatives and friends at home think that this child is very resilient and talented.
So she suggested to her parents that she could send her child to a martial arts school.
Since then, she has often quarreled with her parents about going to a professional martial arts school.
Because the child was too young, the parents were reluctant and never agreed.
Unable to go to the martial arts school, she "turned over the mountains and the sea" at home.
The house in the village is very low, and Zhang Weili runs around on the roof every day,
The new shoes that her mother bought her, she wore for a week at most, and they rotted.
In the face of such a naughty her, her parents did not stop her, but let her "toss".
02
When she was 12 years old, her mother suddenly asked her one day if she wanted to go to a martial arts school.
She didn't think about it, and excitedly agreed immediately.
After waiting for this day for several years, the parents finally agreed.
In order to keep her from missing her homework, her mother finally chose a family that could learn martial arts.
A martial arts school where you can also learn cultural lessons.
In this way, Zhang Weili began her martial arts career with full of expectations and excitement.
It was only after going in that she understood that this road was really not easy to walk.
There are more than 300 people in the school, and only more than 20 girls.
Living conditions are also harsh. There is no restaurant for eating, and squatting in the playground every day to eat.
There is no glass in the dormitory, and in the winter a basin of water is put on the ground and it freezes the next day.
Once in class, the coach asked the boys and girls to run.
As long as the girls who have not won the boys, everyone is slapped by the coach.
Zhang Weili is naturally among them.
It would have been unfair to have boys play against girls.
In this school where classmates often talk with "fists",
Children are not very old, the slightest carelessness will cause conflicts, and fighting is the most normal thing.
Among so many people, Zhang Weili is the shortest and smallest of them.
She was often beaten, and her nose and face were swollen from being beaten every day, which made her feel seriously frustrated inside.
But since she was a child, she has loved to fight for people, and she naturally will not be bullied in vain, and she will fight back every time.
In her heart, she thought that these bullies were "skilled in martial arts" and that she wanted to learn their martial arts skills.
She was determined that one day she would beat everyone.
So she trained frantically every day, and the strength to not accept defeat in her bones has always supported her.
Life at the martial arts school was also her most memorable time.
Get up at 4:30 every morning, do morning exercises,
Morning study culture class, afternoon training, non-stop kicking,
Nosebleeds from being beaten every day when "fighting in real combat".
Poor living conditions, often beaten, even if the school life is not good,
Nor was there ever a proposal to go home to his parents.
She didn't want to just give up, she wanted to be stronger.
In the later training, Zhang Weili relied on her own efforts,
And with intense training day after day, she beat all the people who bullied her.
03
The days at the martial arts school were "painful and happy", and soon came two years later.
In 2005, the efforts were not in vain,
Zhang Weili, 14, won the Hebei Provincial Youth Sanda Championship and won the first trophy in her life.
Stand out from the shortest girl in the school and beat everyone,
Perhaps only she knows best how sad it is behind this award.
Because of her outstanding performance, Zhang Weili was selected by the Jiangsu provincial team.
It was a big encouragement to her. She made up her mind that the next time she would be a national champion.
However, fate played a joke on her.
In 2008, the world's attention to the Beijing Olympic Games is about to open,
Zhang Weili is also preparing for the National Sanda Championship.
In the process of usual training, she practiced desperately, increasing her intensity every day.
When others practiced a hundred times, she had twice or tripled as many as others.
She said: "When I saw the ring, I was obsessed, I felt like I was doing this. ”
For a long time, this extraordinary high-intensity training made her waist seriously strained,
Even if you can't move at all, you can't participate in any subsequent training, let alone compete.
The sudden arrival of injuries made Zhang Weili almost collapse.
In addition to not being able to compete, she also faces an important question: whether to stick with it or retire.
She herself once said: "There are too many athletes who are injured.
There is no way to continue, the sport is very hard at home. ”
Later, her parents learned of this and insisted that she go back, so Zhang Weili retired.
Injuries terminated her dreams and shattered her life.
She was only 17 years old that year.
Such a "good seedling" makes many people feel sorry for it.
04
After retiring, Zhang Weili fell into confusion.
For Zhang Weili, where should she go if her education level is not high.
The father said that the girl should be safe and stable, and let her find someone at home to marry and have children.
But she didn't want her life to be like this.
She said: "I have to make something to be worthy of myself." ”
After that, In order to support herself, Zhang Weili chose "North Drift".
Because my brother is also in Beijing, I can still have a care, so my parents are more at ease.
In March 2010, Zhang Weili came to Beijing alone.
When she came to the big city, because of her experience as a sanda athlete, she worked as a bodyguard for half a year.
After that, I worked as a kindergarten teacher, a hotel front desk, a cashier, a cleaner, and so on.
With no academic qualifications and no background, she can only do these similar jobs.
She called the time when she didn't practice boxing "the days of confusion."
Later, she came to work at a gym as a front desk, and took a salary of 1500 yuan that was not covered.
But the fight ring in the gym caught her eye, and wasn't that where she longed for?
So she immediately asked the store manager if she could practice when there were no customers.
The manager said there was no problem, no guests practiced casually.
This made Zhang Weili very happy, and she immediately went to work the next day.
No one could have imagined that this job would become the most critical turning point in her life.
After working for about 20 days, Zhang Weili changed from a front desk post to a sales post with a higher commission.
For the job of sales, Zhang Weili relies on her understanding of fitness expertise,
Yue Yue won the sales championship, which also made her happy.
Just when she thought her life was going to be like this,
She became acquainted with a regular at the gym named Wu Haotian.
He was a deadly mixed martial artist and one of the earliest MMA athletes in China.
05
Wu Haotian saw that this little girl did not come home from work, and practiced in the gym.
So the two people chatted, and the more times they got acquainted.
Wu Haotian also took her to practice together.
One day after that, Zhang Weili and Wu Haotian were playing "actual combat",
A man stood under the ring, earnestly witnessing it all.
Someone watched the "game", which made the two instantly hit the chicken blood,
The fight was more intense, and neither of the two people could exert any strength.
This person in the audience not only did not feel afraid, but felt very interesting,
I think they played too well, because there are really not many people who can see such a fierce battle.
The person watching the game was Cai Xuejun, and he was one of the first managers in the field of mixed martial arts in China.
Zhang Weili's strength, which is no less than manhood and does not let her eyebrows be shaved, has successfully attracted his attention.
This person was able to walk into the fighting championship ring against Zhang Weili later,
And winning the championship again and again has a very important relationship with him.
Through the conversation, Cai Xuejun introduced zhang Weili to the martial arts MMA that has just emerged in China.
as well as the top tournament UFC. What is UFC: Mixed Martial Arts.
In addition to not being able to use fatal blows such as crotch kicks, eye insertions, and smashing the back of the head,
Players can use a variety of martial arts techniques such as Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Sanda and so on to defeat their opponents.
This is the first time Zhang Weili heard about the UFC, and she was instantly interested.
And lament that there is such a game in the world.
The UFC champion at the time was Ronda. Rosie.
So Zhang Weili turned on the TV and saw Ronda. Rosie turned her opponent K.O. and she felt very handsome.
At that moment, Zhang Weili silently had a thought in her heart:
One day I'm going to stand in the UFC ring and win the championship and take the gold belt.
Cai Xuejun gave her a lot of help in training and suggested that she quit her job to concentrate on training.
Zhang Weili, who had a goal in mind, quit her job without hesitation.
And so, at the age of 24, she joined a fight club.
Train professionally and become a mixed martial artist.
After that, she got up at six o'clock every day to train, Chinese New Year's Eve everyone else go home, but she stayed behind to train.
After quitting her job, she didn't have any financial resources, and she didn't want to reach out to her family.
She decided to earn money by playing games, so she trained intensively every day.
This kind of training once again made her waist strain, more serious than the last time.
This made Zhang Weili depressed, and she began to cultivate and recover, and Cai Xuejun also accompanied her during this period.
The days when she couldn't train, this was simply a kind of torture for Zhang Weili.
Nine months later, Zhang Weili recovered from her injuries and couldn't wait for her to devote herself to training again.
In order to regain her physical strength as soon as possible, she "competes" with male athletes every day.
The people under the ring could clearly hear the loud noise coming from their muscle contact, and everyone shouted terrible.
This girl who looks like a man is not as strong as we see.
She is also a girl who needs to be loved, and she will cry because of a very small thing.
At the end of the training, she will also shed tears of exhaustion.
Such emotions can only be regulated by herself.
She watched videos of other people's matches to restore herself.
06
Zhang Weili said: "I never thought that when I was 24 years old, I could go to the ring.
I feel lucky to be an MMA athlete. ”
She said that she wants the world to see the power of China and wants to have a good ranking in the world.
However, at that time, there was a big gap between mixed martial arts and foreign countries.
Zhang Weili wanted to improve herself by playing in actual combat, so she began to look for opportunities to participate in competitions.
In 2013, the domestic C1 mixed martial arts league tournament was held in Xuchang, Henan.
Zhang Weili's opponent is Meng Bo, a Siberian tiger from Xi'an.
The two played extremely anxiously in this game, but in the end Zhang Weili lost the game.
Victory and defeat are common to soldiers, and Zhang Weili continued to devote herself to training after returning.
Seeing her determination and hard work, coach Cai Xuejun has more confidence in her.
After a period of training, Zhang Weili participated in the competition again.
Wulin Feng and Kunlun Duel are the main mixed martial arts competition platforms for women in China.
Cai Xuejun took Zhang Weili to Wulinfeng, but they thought she was a newcomer.
Nothing to look at and refused on the spot.
The immortal Cai Xuejun went to Kunlun again, and the other party originally wanted to refuse,
But after watching Zhang Weili's training video, she felt that the girl was "very fierce" and agreed to let her play.
On April 17, 2014, Zhang Weili ushered in the first match of Kunlun Duels.
Living up to expectations, Zhang Weili won. It was also the first win of her career.
In the next two years, Zhang Weili created miracles in a row, playing 13 matches in Kunlun and winning all of them.
Even so, she was not satisfied.
Her dream is to go to the UFC to play against the world's strongest players.
In May 2018, Zhang Weili was favored and signed by the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
She then played three international matches and won three in a row.
Even if Zhang Weili won more games, suddenly no one wanted to fight with her at this time.
Because she was not famous, no one in the international arena knew her.
International veterans believe that playing with such a newcomer and winning will be considered too normal.
Losing will ruin your reputation, and the gain will not be worth the loss.
07
Until June 2019, the chief bai dana of the Ultimate Fighting Championship,
Arranged for grassweight world champion Andrade to play with Zhang Weili.
One day at four o'clock in the morning, coach Cai Xuejun came to smash the door madly.
The moment he opened the door, he excitedly told Zhang Weili the news.
When she got the news, her heart was boiling!
As everyone knows, Andrad is not only strong and fierce, but also known as the "piling machine".
As soon as this news came out, everyone was incredulous and felt that this was a game without suspense.
The reason why Andrade is willing to play with her is to expand her popularity.
Soon, on August 31, the game kicked off in Shenzhen.
Andrad, who appeared on the scene, stared at Zhang Weili fiercely,
Zhang Weili had a relaxed face, and after entering the octagonal cage, she also greeted her friends under the ring.
Coach Cai Xuejun even shouted at her to make her stare back.
At the beginning of the game, Zhang Weili constantly tested the other side, and Andrade seemed to look down on the newcomer.
At the beginning, she kept attacking, and Zhang Weili kept dodging until she retreated to the edge of the octagonal cage.
The light enemy Andrade did not expect that Zhang Weili punched her in the jaw with a heavy punch!
Andrade, who had lost his center of gravity, was struck by Zhang Weili.
The experienced Andrade got up and pushed Zhang Weili to the edge of the cage, intending to perform a big trick on her , "high position hugging".
Zhang Weili seemed to anticipate all this in advance, not giving the other party a chance, and directly punching the other party hard!
This was followed by a storm of knee and elbow strikes, defeating Andrad!
And this whole process, it only took 42 seconds! This is called K.O!
Zhang Weili turned her head and jumped excitedly on top of the octagonal cage to celebrate the victory!
She got her first gold belt!
Nine years, Zhang Weili's efforts have not been in vain!
She also became the first World Champion in China and the first Ultimate Fighting Championship in Asia.
Zhang Weili said that she never wanted to lose this matter, as long as she had any chance.
She will choose to subdue her opponents, she is here to win.
Even if he becomes a world champion, people abroad think that Zhang Weili is lucky,
It is even said that Andrad's old injury recurred before he lost the game.
In the face of such doubts, Zhang Weili did not care at all and continued to devote herself to training.
07
In 2020, Zhang Weili ushered in the first championship defense of her career.
Her opponent is Joanna, a Polish professional Muay Thai fighter and multiple world champion.
Before the game, the arrogant Joanna deliberately posted an infuriating poster photo online.
In the picture, she wears a black gas mask, publicly referring to the epidemic in China.
In the face of her provocation, Zhang Weili only said briefly:
Don't make fun of this kind of thing, if you think that provoking me like this will make you stronger, then you can do it.
The implication is, don't make this useless, let's speak with strength.
Joanna: I'll blow you up with my fists, don't mess with Polish forces.
Zhang Weili: Shut up. Just two words, handsome!
On March 8th, Women's Day, when we are all celebrating the holiday,
Zhang Weili stood in the UFC ring in Las Vegas, USA.
The match consisted of 5 rounds, and the two men played a solid game.
Until the end of the game, Zhang Weili's eyes were swollen and only a slit was left, and the corners of her eyes were also torn.
Joanna was also badly injured, her whole face was badly deformed, and the bridge of her nose was horribly crooked.
It can be seen how fierce the battle between the two is in this game, and it is frightening to watch!
After five rounds of fierce fighting, Zhang Li defeated Joanna 2-1 and defended the UFC World Champion!
She is also the first UFC Chinese World Champion!
In this game, Zhang Weili used her strength to let the world witness what is called China's power!
Chief Bai Dana said it was one of the most exciting games he had ever seen in his life;
He said the "war" would surely be inducted into the Hall of Fame;
He said that Zhang Weili is a superstar.
Domestically, Zhang Weili is frequently on the hot search, and each one has hundreds of millions of followers!
After winning the game, Zhang Weili said: "Everyone deserves respect, I don't like to say some nonsense in the octagon cage.
When we come to the ring, we are warriors, and we have to respect each other. ”
Such a remark reflects her temperament and spirit!
08
In April 2021, Zhang Weili and Rose "fought".
At the beginning of the game, Rose's leg sweep hit Zhang Weili's head, and she fell to the ground and was attacked by Rose continuously.
Zhang Weili, who was about to stand up, was suddenly stopped by the referee and missed the championship.
The referee played just 78 seconds to keep both sides safe to declare Rose victorious.
After the game, Zhang Weili often couldn't sleep, as long as she closed her eyes, she was pictured being K.O. Rose.
In the following days, she trained hard and cut off her long hair, which made her more handsome.
In November 2021, Zhang Weili and Rose fought again.
It was another five-legged game, but she still lost rose.
Zhang Weili, who failed this time, was not as unwilling as the last time, and she accepted the result frankly.
Finding her own shortcomings in failure and learning from experience is a good experience for her.
No one will always succeed, and learning to learn the life of success in failure is the most important thing.
Looking at her path to the championship, it is really very difficult.
Some people say that Zhang Weili is a "talented player".
I would like to say that no one's success depends on luck and talent, which is inseparable from her hard work!
The pain she has suffered, the tears she has shed, the wounds she has suffered, and the blood she has shed, we ordinary people cannot imagine.
Champions in every field are the same, and behind them are those unknown efforts.
No one is a natural hero, and I hope zhang Weili can continue to shine in her field!