If it took an unexpected turn of happenstance for her to be considered as a possible replacement atop the UFC women’s pound-for-pound rankings, two-time strawweight champion Zhang Weili utilized her title defense at UFC 292 to cement her spot.
Zhang (24-3), the first Chinese-born champion in UFC history, unleashed a historic dismantling of Brazilian challenger Amanda Lemos in the co-main event in Las Vegas. The dominant unanimous decision paired nicely with recent events — including Amanda Nunes’ retirement and high-profile defeats to Valentina Shevchenko and Rose Namajunas — to leave little doubt as to where Zhang currently stands as the defending P4P queen.
Not only did she score six takedowns to zero for Lemos, including nearly 15 minutes of top control time, Zhang outlanded her opponent 288 to 21, which became the biggest margin for strike differential in UFC women’s history. Zhang, who held an advantage of 157 to 9 in total strikes through the first three rounds alone, relied on her evolving ground game to routinely punish Lemos over 25 minutes.
Since making her UFC debut in 2018, Zhang has only ever lost to Namajunas and she did so twice in 2021 to snap her first reign as 115-pound champion….
