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Zhang Weili defended her women's strawweight title at UFC 312 with a unanimous decision over Tatiana Suarez. Weili's win resulted in a former UFC star making a bold prediction about her future.
To the surprise of many, Weili entered the bout as an underdog whereas, Suarez was riding high on her undefeated MMA record. After winning her title back against Carla Esparza at UFC 281, Weili defeated Amanda Lemos and Yan Xiaonan before locking horns with Suarez.
'Magnum' put on a clinical display and nowhere seemed to be in any trouble in the bout. Her performance forced Derek Brunson to predict her championship run with a small catch in it. He took to his X account and posted:
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"Zhang Weili will be champ for a very long time . Barring getting caught !"
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Check out Derek Brunson's post below:
Ariel Helwani heaps praise on Zhang Weili, calls her the "MVP" of UFC 312
MMA journalist Ariel Helwani joined other fight experts and fighters who showered praise on Zhang Weili. After a slow first round, she turned the clock around and gradually decimated her challenger Tatiana Suarez over the remainder of the fight.
Noting her performance and how she was overlooked, Helwani expressed his praise for 'Magnum.' In his UFC 312 Post-Fight Show on his YouTube channel, the famed combat sports journalist said:
"I'm in awe of Zhang Weili. I'm in awe of what she did tonight, I'm in awe of her as a fighter, I'm in awe of her evolution, I'm in awe of her skills. I think she is the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world as far as female MMA is concerned. She is so damn good, she is so damn impressive, to do that to Tatiana Suarez."
Terming her the "MVP" of the pay-per-view event, Helwani further added:
"She broke Tatiana Suarez mentally, like Tatiana Suarez was done by the end of that fight and we have never seen her in that kind of a situation...for her to be in her first title fight and experience something like that, she shall be back, people get title fights and you know they stumble and they come back, no problem there but tonight its about Zhang Weili, the MVP of this card, the most impressive fighter in this card in my opinion."
Check out Ariel Helwani's comments on Zhang Weili below (18:22):
