By:  | May 17, 2023 10:19 am

Weili Zhang has her next fight booked. She is set to make the first defence of the strawweight title she captured for the second time when she takes on Amanda Lemos at UFC 292.

The event is set for the TD Garden in Boston. Lemos (13-2) is currently ranked #4, coming off back to back wins and had been expected to challenge Zhang for the strawweight title next.

But there had been some speculation Xiaonan Yan could jump the queue after her impressive win over Jessica Andrade at UFC 288 earlier this month.

Her title shot is on hold although she will probably be next in line for the winner. The UFC confirmed just now that Zhang would be facing Lemos in Boston on August 19th.

On top

Zhang (23-3) won the title for the second time when she submitted Carla Esparza at UFC 281. She had lost the belt after suffering back to back defeats at the hands of Rose Namajunas.

The Chinese fighter finished Joanna Jedrzejczyk with a spinning back fist at UFC 275 to earn her shot at the champion. With two stoppage wins from two title fights Zhang is at the top of her game right now.

She will be grateful that her opponent is not American as Zhang was mercilessly booed during the fights with Namajunas and admitted afterwards it had affected her. Lemos is from Brazil and unlikely to be particularly popular with the Boston crowd.

Bantamweight title

One fighter who is bound to get good support in Boston is Sean O’Malley (16-1). He has Irish heritage and will have the crowd firmly behind him when he challenges bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling (23-3).

Sterling will be making the fourth defence of his bantamweight belt although he has not won many fans during his stint as champion. Perhaps because two of his last four wins have been split decisions while he won the belt when Petr Yan was disqualified for an illegal knee.

UFC 292, Boston, August 19th
Aljamain Sterling (c) vs. Sean O’Malley (For bantamweight title)
Zhang Weili (c) vs. Amanda Lemos (For strawweight title)