With Zhang Weili's quick turn and whip fist, Polish player Joanna Janjezic fell to the ground.
In less than ten minutes, Zhang Weili quickly knocked out her opponent.
This is the second time Zhang Weili and Joanna have played against each other.
After the game, the 35-year-old Polish veteran Joanna announced her retirement in tears.
She left her gloves on the field, symbolizing a complete farewell to the Octagon.
Before this game, Zhang Weili lost to "Mob Rose" Ross twice in a row, and also lost her hard-won gold belt.
In the first game in 2022, the "upgraded" Zhang Weili returned to the Octagon again. She fulfilled the promise she made:
"I believe, I will come back."
Official UFC photo.
The fire "Li" is fully open
At around 11:00 on the 12th, Beijing time, the second battle between Zhang Weili and Joanna started on time.
In the background music of "A Smile from the Sea", Zhang Weili entered the venue with a relaxed and confident pace.
The audience immediately burst into deafening cheers.
The referee blew the whistle, and both sides quickly entered the game.
In about 2 minutes, Zhang Weili succeeded in a hug and fell. While hitting and suppressing her opponent on the ground, she also looked for opportunities to surrender.
Joanna tried her best to get back to standing, but she was still being hugged and thrown by Zhang Weili.
In the second round, the two started an evenly matched offensive battle, and they were very close on the scene.
In the middle of the round, Joanna hugged Zhang Weili close by the cage, but Zhang Weili broke free.
Back in the center of the arena, Zhang Weili turned around and punched Joanna in the head, knocking her out.
Joanna fell to the ground, and Zhang Weili, who was excited, raised her arms around the field and shouted, venting the pressure that had accumulated for a long time.
Data map: Zhang Weili performs boxing training.
Photo by Zhang Hengwei
walk through thorns
This long-lost victory ended Zhang Weili's two-game losing streak in the UFC.
After the game, she said firmly:
"No matter who I fight, I will definitely win. I want to tell everyone that I am back."
In April last year, Zhang Weili suffered the most brutal hit in her career.
In the UFC women's strawweight championship fight, Ross-Namayunas knocked Zhang Weili to the ground in just 1 minute and 18 seconds.
In this way, she "lightning" lost her golden belt.
The unexpected failure made Zhang Weili unacceptable.
After all, before the game started, Zhang Weili had a 21-game winning streak.
She kept holding a breath in her heart, thinking about how to "revenge" Ross.
Data map: On March 8, 2020, Beijing time, Zhang Weili defeated Polish player Joanna with a point victory in five rounds and successfully defended her title.
The rematch with Rose is a scene that UFC and all mixed martial arts fans are willing to see.
And Zhang Weili also wanted to prove herself impatiently.
After half a year, in New York, Zhang Weili and Ross met again.
After five rounds of the game, Zhang Weili failed again.
This time, without the original annoyance and unwillingness, Zhang Weili smiled and congratulated Ross.
"At that time, winning or losing was not important to me. At the end of the game, I didn't think about anything.
" After replaying the game, Zhang Weili felt that she slowly regained her most focused state.
It didn't take long to come out of the shadow of failure.
After returning to China, Zhang Weili started normal training.
However, these two valuable experiences also made Zhang Weili realize:
"Life is not smooth sailing, the key is to sum up experience and think about how to make yourself stronger."
Stop worrying about winning and losing, but try your best to be in the moment.
After going through the thorns, Zhang Weili finally reconciled with herself.
Official UFC photo.
King's return
After winning the second battle with Joanna, Zhang Weili was qualified to challenge for the gold belt.
She shouted to the current champion: "We choose a middle place and play a game in a very fair situation."
After experiencing peaks and valleys, hardships and setbacks, Zhang Weili, who refused to admit defeat, once again attacked the golden belt.
However, the gold belt, which symbolizes the highest honor in the field of mixed martial arts, is not Zhang Weili's ultimate goal.
She believes that,
win or lose, mixed martial arts athletes show the strength of women in the octagonal cage
: "Who said we can't, we can, we have to show the spirit of MMA."
As she said in an interview before: "I also think that everyone is born with their own mission. My mission is to let more people join the sport.
The gold belt is just an appendage. I don't take the gold belt as the ultimate goal. Goal.
Honor is very short-lived. I hope to help more people understand this sport and make this sport better.” (Reporter Xing Rui)