UFC 268: New York Knicks tell Zhang Weili to ‘bring the belt home’ from Madison Square Garden
- NBA team hand Chinese former strawweight champion a custom jersey with No 268 ahead of rematch with Rose Namajunas
- ‘Zhang Weili vs Rose Second World War’ hashtag trends on China’s Twitter-like Weibo with more than 26.2 million reads
Chinese fighter Zhang Weili has been given the backing of the New York Knicks going into her blockbuster strawweight title rematch with Rose Namajunas at UFC 268.
The 32-year-old Zhang (21-2) will look to regain the belt from American Namajunas (10-4) on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden, the home of the NBA team.
Namajunas stunned Zhang with a first-round TKO in front of a vociferous crowd in Jacksonville, Florida in April, where “Magnum” was booed at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena.
The former champion already has some support in New York, though, with the Knicks encouraging her on Weibo to bring the belt back home to China.
“Chinese girl Zhang Weili is about to play in the UFC Ultimate Fighting Championship at Madison Square Garden, home of the New York Knicks, against rival Rose!” the Knicks’ official Weibo account wrote on Friday in a post to their 3.6 million followers.
The post added that Madison Square Garden vice president Joel Fisher gave “brave girl” Zhang an exclusive custom Knicks jersey with her name and the No 268 on it.