Zhang Weili: Inside and outside the predicament

  Just this Sunday, a two-year-anticipated fight will take place in Singapore - Weili Zhang vs. Joanna Yedelzesik.

The last time the two faced off was called one of the greatest fights in mixed martial arts history.

The weight and volume of that victory surpassed Zhang Weili's historic moment of winning the gold belt for the first time and made her famous.

  However, since then, two consecutive losses have sent her into the whirlpool of public opinion.

  Between the peaks and valleys defined by the outside world, how does she smooth out the huge waves in her heart, and what attitude will she take to re-enter the octagonal cage?

Wounded and Healed

  For a while, Zhang Weili's mind would replay some images repeatedly: under the spotlight, in the octagonal cage, after a few sweeps, she was suddenly hit in the head by a high sweep, followed by falling to the ground uncontrollably, the referee. The game was called off, and the audience roared.

  That was Zhang Weili's second title defense against Ross Namayunas.

The race lasted only 78 seconds.

  Such an unexpected failure made Zhang Weili unacceptable for a while, and tried to argue with the referee several times.

Rose became the first UFC women's strawweight fighter to regain the gold belt.

Amid the roaring cheers at home in Florida, Rose laughed and cried, repeating the phrase, "I'm the strongest, I'm the strongest"—exactly what her coach told her repeatedly before the game.

Aside from the hustle and bustle, Zhang Weili's face was only stunned and annoyed.

Before that, she built the belief of "I am the strongest" with an upward line with few twists and turns in her mixed martial arts career, and she did not need to be inculcated and strengthened by others at all.

  At this moment, that fact is shaken.

  This is the first time that Zhang Weili and coach Cai Xuejun have experienced such a failure together.

"I've never seen her like this before." Cai Xuejun said, "We didn't sleep for more than 20 hours (over the end of the game), we couldn't sleep at all, she didn't know what was going on."

  In the following days, in the online interview with domestic reporters, Zhang Weili was still emotional, and she talked about more details that she did not expect and was overwhelmed.

She cut off her long hair in a fit of anger, and every hair on the inch head pushed out by the electric fader was stunned.

  "I feel like I'm holding a breath in my heart, you know? I just want to go up and beat her, the kind of feeling I want to win back."

  As a bystander, Cai Xuejun returned to calm and rationality earlier than Zhang Weili.

He knew that the tension of cradling his shoulders every day and desperately wanting "revenge" would only drag down the second battle.

He told Zhang Weili to start over when he watched the game without any resentment.

  He is also reviewing the path the master and apprentice have traveled and his own decisions.

"Weili has grown very fast. She started to practice MMA (mixed martial arts) officially in 2013, and won the championship in 2019. She actually played 4 matches in the UFC, so I feel she is making up lessons. She She should take a longer road, she should learn more, she should adapt to the big stage, adapt to the mentality."

  "Actually, we also made mistakes." He said that the entire team's attention was completely on technology and tactics, while ignoring many off-field factors - long-distance fatigue, nowhere to train, rushing into battle, "devil" away... "If you ask now Me, should we pick up the first game (with Rose)? I definitely won't."

  In the professional mixed martial arts competition, the spotlight is the close combat of two people, but it is far more than the skill, body and will that determine the scale of victory in those few rounds.

Every contest is a long operation about the weather, the location, and the people.

In China, where professional sports are not developed, this is a "routine" that needs to be gradually learned.

  The first thing Zhang Weili has to do is to clear all his thoughts and focus completely on himself at the moment.

She tried to meditate and meditated, and it seemed to be getting better, but what really "healed" her was the second battle with Rose.

  After half a year, in New York, she played against Rose again, and the defending champion and challenger exchanged identities.

The two played five rounds, and Zhang Weili lost.

This time, when the referee raised Rose's arm, Zhang Weili smiled and congratulated her opponent.

  She felt her shoulders finally drop.

"After the second race, I got better slowly, and I feel I can concentrate more. When I can run, I enjoy running. When I'm training, I can train with peace of mind."

  More than 200 days have passed since the defeat in the Second World War.

Her hair has also grown, "now I want to tie it up again".

  "This is actually a starting point for me, a starting point to get myself over an obstacle again." She was looking forward to it.

Fame and bad reviews

  On March 8, 2020, a game far away in Las Vegas, the United States made the Chinese people boil.

Zhang Weili's name, which happened to coincide with "her power", spread all over the Internet during this women's festival.

  It was Zhang Weili's first title defense against the Polish Joanna.

The game was played over five rounds and 25 minutes.

At the end, Zhang Weili's eyes were bleeding nonstop, and Joanna's forehead was swollen and deformed.

  It wasn't until the referee raised Zhang Weili's hand that she was confident that she had done it.

"It's not easy. It took several countries to get here." She held the microphone and said almost choked.

  During the difficult period of fighting against the new crown epidemic, Zhang Weili displayed both "China's power" and a "Chinese attitude" that was neither humble nor arrogant in the world arena, which was exactly what the public urgently needed at that time.

  Overwhelming praise poured in from all directions.

  She came from a coal miner's family, retired Sanda athlete, and worked as a kindergarten teacher and a security guard in the "Beijing Drift" career... These "life labels" that accompanied Zhang Weili have also become strong evidence that a grass-roots woman's tenacious growth has become a great weapon.

Under the predictable popularity, Zhang Weili was "conferred a god".

  After returning to China, she found that she could be recognized even when she went out to buy something.

"Maybe you have to pay more attention to yourself, is this the burden of idols?" She laughed.

  Just as victory and defeat go hand in hand, the pursuit and attack of the Internet are two sides of the same name.

How fervently you are sought after, the fiercer the crusade you are subjected to.

  Zhang Weili experienced this roller coaster feeling for the first time after losing 78 seconds to Ross.

  "Can't afford to lose" and "floating"... The Internet is full of disappointment, dissatisfaction and criticism.

Those commercial activities and variety shows that she once participated in have become "real hammers" who want to quickly realize commercial value and abandon training.

  "It feels like I'm sorry for the whole world (feeling)."

  At that time, Zhang Weili was very concerned about other people's evaluations, and even more concerned about negative evaluations; she did not understand why many people who were still enthusiastically supporting and praising her before the game, why they spoke ill of each other instantly.

  "There are also many people who support you, but all you can see at the time are scolding you." She knew that being caught in this vortex was harmful and unhelpful, but she still couldn't help reading the bad comments, and even hit back, tossing and turning for several nights.

  At the most painful time, she told Cai Xuejun, "I want to delete all social media."

But Cai Xuejun knew that for Zhang Weili, who loves expressing herself, "resigning from the Internet" could neither do nor solve the problem.

He instructed her: "These things exist in the breath, and you have to accept it."

  A strong heart is not only needed in the octagonal cage, but also in the long life.

  After the second battle with Ross, Zhang Weili also crossed a lot of hurdles in her heart, "What if I like you, what if I hate you, I can just be myself."

  On the evening of June 3, she sent a Dragon Boat Festival blessing video on Weibo, showing her recent weight loss and fat reduction results.

Compared with before departure from Beijing, the whole person is much tighter, and the muscles are clearly defined, which attracts envy and asks for advice.

Her hair was also braided.

  "I found a problem, it's not that you change after your hair is cut, it's that after you really change your heart, you can do whatever you want."

Walking alone and walking alone

  On an ordinary Tuesday afternoon in April, Xinhua News Agency reporters came to the boxing gym where Zhang Weili was working. More than a dozen boys and girls were training. Zhang Weili's photos and posters were posted on the walls; crisp shouts were heard one after another, and sweat dripped from the helmets.

  Cai Xuejun said that in recent years, it is not only their boxing gym that has become popular. Their club is located in a commercial area in Shunyi, Beijing. There are six or seven fighting clubs within a two-kilometer radius.

Zhang Weili's club has about 130 children in training all year round.

  "I think China should be the largest (combat sports market) in the world. For example, we have a martial arts school with tens of thousands of people practicing together, but there must be no other places." Cai Xuejun said, "These may be mixed martial arts talents in the future. "

  Zhang Weili made mixed martial arts (MMA) awareness in China skyrocket.

In fact, as a sport that integrates various fighting techniques in the world, Chinese martial arts is one of its sources, and Bruce Lee is even regarded as the "father of MMA".

At present, the most influential event in the mixed martial arts world, UFC, was founded in Denver, USA. So far, only a few Chinese players have been able to be signed by them, and Zhang Weili is the only player in Asia who has ever won a gold belt.

  On that stage, you represent China - both technically and spiritually.

  "There are so many things in Chinese martial arts that can be learned from. No one who practices boxing is as loose as Chinese Tongjiquan. You can also learn Tai Chi's control of balance."

  "To a certain extent, we will find some roots in traditional Chinese kung fu, how to relax, how to beat the strength more thoroughly, and how to use the strength of the body to exert strength, including Chinese wrestling."

  "It's just that we haven't had time yet." Cai Xuejun said, "(Besides) Weili's generation, there will be the next generation."

  And now Zhang Weili is going to go, destined to be a lonely road.

In a world where other people make the rules and run it completely, she and her team can only use their strength to gain more space.

  Cai Xuejun has a deep understanding.

"You still have to train yourself to be strong. If you want to have the right to speak, you must defeat him, and he will listen to you, otherwise you won't say anything."

  "Zhi Ge (for martial arts), right? It's not that I call martial arts when I stop. No, I (have to) have the ability to stop."

  On the sidelines, Zhang Weili is never aggressive - but only on the sidelines.

"Going to the octagonal cage is the same as going to the battlefield. What else can you learn from each other? You show the best of yourself is the greatest respect for her."

  Perhaps more lonely than fighting on stage is the persistence in simple days.

  Leaving the bustling business district where the gym is located, three kilometers away is the residence, turning from a village road into an alley, and turning a few more turns, the navigation can not be found.

It's hard to call this three-story residence home, it's like a mix of a dormitory and an office, and it's a bit cluttered.

Seclusion is probably one of the few advantages.

  In the days without competitions for half a year, Zhang Weili did not dare to slack off, and she also rejected a lot of business activities.

"As a professional athlete, you can't start preparing for the game when it's close to the game."

  A highly disciplined life, never-ending training, is pretty much what a top athlete's life is all about.

And the game is the most colorful part of it.

  On June 12, Singapore, Zhang Weili and Joanna will face each other again.

This contest is likely to be the stepping stone for the two to hit the gold belt again.

Of course, they all expressed full confidence.

  No matter what the result is, for Zhang Weili, working hard along a curve is the real human road.

  Just like a sentence she posted on her social account in December last year: "Fighting is a contradictory sport, just like when we show the aesthetics of violence in the octagonal cage, what we want to convey is that human beings overcome self, overcome prejudice, and overcome Difficulty courage." (Note-takers: Niu Mengtong, Shen Nan

  Participating reporters: Lu Yuchen, Dong Yixing, Cao Yibo)

  Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, June 7th.