March 8th is the first anniversary of Zhang Weili's victory in the first defending match.
There is still more than a month before Zhang Weili’s next defending match in foreign media reports.
Data map: Zhang Weili is in training.
Photo by Zhang Hengwei
Although there is no official announcement for this game, it is certain that Zhang Weili is now in a state of intense training.
The Chinese girl must once again show her strength to the world.
In 2019, Zhang Weili became China's first UFC world champion. In the first defending match the following year, she defeated Joanna and kept her golden belt.
With a bright smile, she walked into the sight of more and more people.
At the end of February this year, Zhang Weili posted a video on Weibo, saying that she needs to practice sparring now.
According to her description, when preparing for the match with Joanna, the coach wore a headgear as a training partner. Before the game, the headgear had been split by Zhang Weili...
Zhang Weili defeated Polish player Joanna in five rounds in the UFC248 Women's Grassweight World Championship and successfully defended her title.
The picture shows Zhang Weili (right) in the defending match.
In that fierce defending battle, people saw the amazing energy contained in her body.
That day was March 8, 2020 Beijing time.
International Women's Day is a festival to show women's power and fight for women's rights.
On this day, Zhang Weili stood on the ring and won.
Her opponents are strong, and they also played well in the game. Together, they showed the attitude that women should have in the arena.
After becoming famous, Zhang Weili was asked many times: Why do girls go to punch their fists?
She said: "This is a sport for the strong, and I really enjoy the feeling of control."
If such a question still carries a "unique" compliment, then discussions like "what kind of man would dare to marry her" and "if you can't beat her will be abused by her", the direction is a bit strange.
Data map: Zhang Weili performs punch training.
Photo by Zhang Hengwei
Zhang Weili responded coolly to this: "We are asking for money for beating others. Have you paid for it? You still want to be beaten."
If you think about it, you will find that people rarely worry about what the spouse of those male fighters should look like and whether they will be "beaten."
This is where the problem lies.
I don’t know when, gender issues became the "wealth code" for some people on the Internet.
But in fact, a truly meaningful discussion should not be obsessed with confrontation, or simple and crude comparisons across the board, but rather thinking about why such “differences” arise and how to avoid them.
Data map: Zhang Weili is in training.
Photo by Zhang Hengwei
After successfully defending her title by defeating Joanna in Las Vegas, Zhang Weili originally planned to return to China as soon as possible to reunite with her family.
However, in March last year, when the epidemic in the United States was gradually spreading, Zhang Weili was helplessly stranded on the other side of the ocean.
On the boxing ring, Zhang Weili took away the victory, but she was also injured.
Her nose bleeds, the corners of her eyes are torn, and the skin is swollen. Even so, she was tough and never shed tears during the game.
During her stay in the United States, when faced with media interviews, she couldn't make a sound for a while.
Does this kind of Zhang Weili better fit some people's definition of women?
Don't think about it, Zhang Weili said that she doesn't want to be defined.
Subjectively summarizing certain specific opinions about a large group of people and imposing them on individuals is questionable.
What's more, such a view itself may carry a biased position.
Data map: In the 2017 Australian Open women's singles final, Serena Williams won the championship.
Today, there are still many discussions on the comparison between Zhang Weili and men, which is not entirely undesirable.
Those rational discussions, such as admitting that she might not be able to fight against certain male athletes, or that someone is willing to admit that as an ordinary male, she is not Zhang Weili’s opponent.
In such discussions, these voices did not ignore the physical differences between men and women, and viewed Zhang Weili’s strength from an objective perspective as far as possible.
In this discourse field, her choice, character, and other half are not important, her performance in the game represents everything.
In discussions about gender, "XX gaze" has become a buzzword on the Internet.
In fact, generally speaking, it is the angle of looking at one person and one thing.
Perhaps when evaluating female athletes, we should use "sports gaze" to return to purity.
The role of women in the history of world sports is not just a "slogan". Generations of women have won respect with their tangible performance on the field.
Data map: In the female gymnastics vault final of the Jakarta Asian Games, Chusovkina won the silver medal.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Hou Yu
Serena Williams won the Australian Open championship while pregnant, Chijiang Rikako defeated leukemia and returned to the arena. Chusovikina is looking forward to participating in the Olympic Games for the eighth time. Hui Ruoqi’s heart surgery went through the "Ghost Gate" after a visit. Rio wins...
On March 8th of this year, some female athletes are competing in large and small arenas, some female athletes are training hard, and some female athletes may be struggling with injuries.
No matter where they are or what they are doing, please praise them—regardless of gender or anything else, praise them for all the positive things they contribute as "athletes."
(Wang Hao)