At UFC 261 in April Zhang Weili tasted defeat in the Octagon for the first time in her UFC career (and only the second time in her entire 23-fight career). That loss came at the hands (and feet) of Rose Namajunas, who dethroned Zhang as the promotion’s UFC strawweight champion.
Ahead of that contest Namajunas made news for some unusual statements regarding her motivation heading into the fight. Namajunas said that because her ancestral home of Lithuania was once occupied by the Soviet Union, she was especially eager to fight and defeat Zhang. The American fighter equated Zhang being Chinese to her being a communist and thus somehow connected to the USSR.