Despite entering as the betting underdog at UFC 312, Zhang Weili looked like the best fighter in 115-pound history on Saturday in a dominant defense of her women’s strawweight title.
Zhang (26-3), a two-time champion, left the previously unbeaten Tatiana Suarez (11-1) bloodied and badly bruised following five rounds of dominant takedown defense and powerful striking. The 35-year-old Zhang, the first Chinese-born champion in UFC history, took home judges’ scores of 49-46 (twice) and 49-45.
“Because I had a full camp for this fight, I am well prepared for this. I have the world’s best coaches,” Zhang said. “I respect Tatiana, she is very strong. She overcame constant injuries and kept going. I have respect for Tatiana. Thank you.”
Suarez, 34, who surrendered the first successful takedown of her career in Round 4 on an inside trip, showed tremendous heart to last the full 25 minutes but couldn’t overcome an 18-month layoff due to injury and the well-rounded, relentless pressure of Zhang.
Even though much of the pre-fight focus surrounded Suarez, who has persevered through a dominant yet injury riddled career, which kept her idle for nearly four years beginning in 2019, the native of Covina, California, couldn’t live up to the oddsmakers expectations despite a strong opening round.
Suarez took Zhang down and spent most of Round 1 in top position although she was unable to land any damage upon the champion as the crowd booed the inactivity.
“I was the underdog, it’s OK,” Weili said. “I don’t care. I just focused on myself.”
Just as swelling began to appear around the left eye of Suarez in Round 2, Zhang began to repeatedly stuff takedown attempts before delivering heavy strikes off of the clinch. Suarez never stopped shooting yet looked visibly tired by the end of the round and opened up a nasty gash on her right knee after colliding with the cage.
In Round 3, Zhang began to forcibly surge ahead thanks to steady strikes to the chest and body of Suarez before a huge right cross badly hurt the challenger. Zhang added a submission attempt via arm triangle after taking Suarez down in Round 4.
In the final round, a weary Suarez was unable to answer her corner’s call for dramatic offense. Zhang stuffed a takedown and ended up in top position before mauling Suarez with strikes until the final seconds.
Zhang made the fourth title defense of her second reign (fifth overall) and recorded her fifth straight win since back-to-back losses to Rose Namajunas in 2021 title bouts. Zhang improved to 10-0 since her 2018 UFC debut against opponents not named Namajunas.
Read the full article here
