UFC: Zhang Weili says ‘I’m a new me’ after 2021 setbacks – ‘I will keep grinding for my dream’
- China’s former UFC strawweight champion reflects on growing as a person and a fighter from crushing lows last year
- ‘I don’t think I’m at a low point right now … I’m at the point of a final sprint,’ Zhang says
Zhang Weili is not sitting around feeling sorry for herself after the crushing lows she experienced in 2021.
“I think it would be ‘change’,” Zhang said in an interview with People Magazine in China, when asked for one word to sum up her year.
The first Chinese champion is UFC history surrendered her UFC strawweight title after a devastating first-round head kick from Rose Namajunas in April, and came up just short in a split decision defeat by the American in their November rematch.
“Nothing is forever the same, like how I went from champion to challenger. And my future goal is to go from a challenger to a champion,” she added.
“My techniques, my style, and mindset, they all changed a great deal in this past year. Because I never lost since I started my pro MMA career, I started to look inward since I lost that fight [at UFC 261 in April].
