It’s a hard act to follow. UFC 248 may have been about the middleweights, and Israel Adesanya’s first title defense, but it was Weili Zhang vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk that stole the show. If you were a fighter competing for fight of the year, they stole that too. It was an incredible bout: the kind of back and forth struggle lesser beings would have forfeited. But not Zhang. And not Jedrzejczyk.
Strawweight is a fascinating division. It’s hard to imagine Zhang losing the title, but that doesn’t mean her hold on the division is hackproof. Rose Namajunas offers a unique stylistic challenge, with her more lateral style on the feet.