UFC 261: Zhang Weili thinks Valentina Shevchenko ‘definitely feels I pose a threat’
- China’s strawweight champ has designs on ‘super fight’ with flyweight queen, who fights on same bill at UFC 261
- ‘She didn’t support me [but] it doesn’t really matter,’ says Zhang in response to Shevchenko’s criticism
UFC strawweight champion Zhang ‘Magnum” Weili has revealed a lingering desire for a super fight with flyweight queen Valentina Shevchenko, even as she prepares for a title defence against top-ranked American Rose Namajunas on April 24.
“After I won my championship [in 2019], initially I quite wanted to fight with ‘Bullet’ [Shevchenko],” explained Zhang. “I told Dana [White] but he said it’s not the time yet. That’s why, since he said this, I haven’t talked about ‘I want to fight with her’ any more.”
Up until now.
Zhang (21-1) revealed she had long pondered the possibilities of matching her skills against a fighter in Shevchenko (20-3) who also cut her teeth on the rough and tumble world of the domestic Chinese kick-boxing circuit before a successful transition to mixed martial arts.
Speaking on a conference call with Chinese media, including SCMP MMA, Zhang said she had also been alerted to comments made by Shevchenko that have followed the Chinese fighter’s rise to the strawweight title, and beyond.