NEW YORK — As Zhang Weili prepares for her next championship test, there’s a different energy surrounding the former strawweight queen. For the first time in years, she enters fight week not as a defending champion and not as a drained, weight-cutting machine. This Saturday at UFC 322 inside Madison Square Garden, Weili challenges reigning flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko in a superfight that will determine the next two-division women’s champion in UFC history. And according to Weili, competing at 125 pounds has made all the difference.
No longer cutting down to 115 pounds, Weili walked into media week looking noticeably more comfortable, energized, and upbeat.