UFC Women’s Strawweight champion Weili Zhang outlined her plan to beat her rival Joanna Jedrzejczyk this weekend at UFC 248.
Zhang is scheduled to take on Jedrzejczyk in the co-main event of this weekend’s UFC 248 event. The Chinese women’s champion has seemed unbeatable since she joined the UFC. She remains confident that she will extend her 19-fight winning streak, adding Jedrzejczyk’ name to it this weekend.
Zhang told Dan Hardy’s Full Reptile Collective in a translated interview while training at the UFC’s Performance Institute (PI), that Jedrzejczyk will be scared to clinch with her, and she said fear and intimidation are a large part of the game plan. In the end, Zhang is confident that she’s better than Jedrzejczyk in all aspects of the game.
“Joanna will keep distance away from me. She won’t stay in the pocket with me because she fears my strength and clinching. I don’t really see anything that can threaten me, so it’s going to be a hard time for her. There are three main areas – stand-up, wrestling and jiu jitsu – and whatever she brings to the table, I’ll go with it and I’ll beat her,” Zhang said.
This will be Zhang’s 1st-title defense since winning the belt from Jessica Andrade via 1st-round TKO last summer in China.
Meanwhile, Jedrzejczyk, enters the contest as a former champion of the division, who recently picked up a decision victory over Michelle Waterson.
Zhang also discussed in the interview that training in Las Vegas instead of China due to the coronavirus won’t affect her. Some fans are still concerned whether her 3-week “emotional” journey from China will have a negative effect on her performance. Zhang doesn’t seem to think so.
“It doesn’t matter where I train or do my camp as long as I’m with my team to support me. That’s the most important thing,” Zhang said.
This article first appeared on CLOSEDGUARDMEDIA.com on 4th March, 2020.
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