A lot has changed since she made it home but the anticipation for Zhang’s next fight has been constant and there appears to be movement on that according to her coach.

Pedro Jordao has said that Zhang should be back in the octagon early next year, with “Thug” Rose Namajunas the likely title challenger.

“We’ll see how things go with this virus,” the Brazilian told MMA Fighting. “But I think will probably be in the first quarter. … We’re training for a while here. It appears that her next fight will be against Rose, but nothing is set yet. Everything indicates that’s the plan — and it makes sense, everybody knows that.

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“She’s another tough opponent. I think Rose is more technical, more calm, and very talented. It’s time to test that. I know she’s probably training really hard, but I think it’s a good match-up for Weili Zhang style-wise.

“People say she’s is very strong, very strong, but we’ve seen how technical she is, too. I trust Weili and think she will be able to defeat Rose.”

Zhang is undefeated in seven years in MMA and is 5-0 in the UFC since signing in 2018 and her star is on the rise at home and abroad, with sponsorship deals rolling in.

Another title defence of the belt she won from Jessica Andrade in August 2019 against a former champ is going to be a good fight for the 31-year-old.

She certainly looks in good shape. Zhang shared footage of her in training last week, hammering body shots into her coach.

UFC boss Dana White reposted the clip on his own Instagram: “God Daaaaaamn!!!! That body shot drops 99.9% of the men watching this right now. @zhangweilimma is a f***** BEAST,” he wrote.

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She is and so is the UFC.

While other sports have really struggled with Covid-19, one of the fastest growing organisations in sport has gone from strength to strength.

Fight Island and the Las Vegas Performance Centre have been a strong part of that but there is also the growth of the sport in China, fuelled by Zhang’s rise.

Every sport, if not every business, still wants its piece of the pie and UFC is no different.

“China is such a big piece in the UFC business,” UFC Asia-Pacific senior vice president Kevin Chang said at the SportsPro Asia event in October, speaking of the US$13 million Performance Centre in Shanghai which opened in July 2018.

“We definitely wanted to plant a flag and have this facility here in China. When we look at Shanghai, it is the centre of culture, the centre of commerce, and now really the centre of sports in China. Then you have the proximity to the neighbouring Asian countries – it just made sense for us to do that.”

UFC: Yan Xiaonan takes step towards strawweight title shot

That centre not only allows for the UFC to train existing fighters and produce localised content to meet the needs of Chinese fans but also helps them to develop Chinese fighters.

“In order for us to continue to grow, we want and need to have more Chinese athletes,” Lawrence Epstein told Sports Pro Media last July when the Shanghai centre opened. “That truly rolls up into the core goal of this facility.”

The centre has also allowed them to cosy up to to the Chinese Olympic Committee, signing a multi-year deal for its athletes to use the facility to train for Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022.

Other sports would kill for this, let alone the UFC’s trump card.

While everyone else crosses their fingers for a new Yao Ming, the UFC has two Chinese fighters in the strawweight category.

It is surely a question of when not if Zhang will meet Yan “Fury” Xiaonan, a fight that could break the Chinese internet.

Yan (13-1-0, one no contest) forced the question before her last fight, which saw victory over Claudia Gadelha by unanimous decision on November 8, saying that a title fight with Zhang would be “big in China”.

She then pushed it again after the win. “I think I’m one shot away from getting a title shot from Dana White,” she said. Yan thinks she can win.

UFC: China’s Yan sees title shot against Zhang on horizon

It is not a bad card to hold in the UFC back pocket, the possibility of a fight between two Chinese fighters in China is a surefire winner whenever White decides to play it.

For all the talk of China becoming an MMA superpower, White essentially has a super power he can call on. An all-Chinese title fight in China is basically a cheat code.

The UFC might be the new kid on the block when it comes to China but it is primed to out-punch the sports that got there first.