Weili Zhang faces Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 275 next month. She is coming off a pair of losses to Rose Namajunas who has provided her with an unwelcome distraction as she prepares to fight in Singapore.
Namajunas lost the strawweight belt after putting in one of the worst performances in UFC title history against Carla Esparza. But the former champion knows that it takes to beat Zhang and reached out to Jedrzejczyk to offer to help her prepare for next months bout.
For Zhang this was an unwelcome distraction and she finds the entire incident a bit bizarre,
“Well, if I’m Rose, I would not do something like this. Because Joanna has her own team. ATT is a very professional, elite team. They produced many champions. And you go interfere at this point that’s a little bit… I don’t know what she’s trying to do.”
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Disrespectful intentions
Zhang feels that Namajunas was showing disrespect to ATT by offering to get involved in Jedrzejczyk’s training camp,
“Does she think Joanna’s team is not good enough or what? I don’t know. I definitely would not do that in her shoes.”
There have also been reports that the UFC wanted to make this a five rounder but Zhang had turned down the offer. But she poured cold water on these claims making it clear she was open to fighting the full 25 minutes,
“Of course. If they would really do that, no problem on my end. A big bonus would be nice,” she said.
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Eagerly anticipated
The first fight between Jedrzejczyk and Zhang was a classic. The Chinese fighter prevailed by split decision after a wild five round war at UFC 248 which earned ‘fight of the year’ honours across the board in 2020.
The rematch is eagerly anticipated and Zhang sounds confident the fight at the Singapore Indoor Stadium will live up to expectations,
“I think this rematch will be entertaining for sure. Because this rematch will determine the title shot. And of course, we both want the title shot. So, we will leave it all in the cage for this fight,” she said.
She has been preparing for the fight at Bang Tao Muay Thai in Phuket. The winner will be handed a shot at newly crowned strawweight champion Carla Esparza.
The stakes are high and Zhang says she has left nothing to chance in terms of her training camp. The former UFC strawweight champion believes she has ‘prepared for everything’,
“I think we have prepared for everything. Long range, close range. BJJ, standup. Everything. We prepare for everything. Because in the cage less error means more chance of winning.”
