Best and worst from UFC Fight Night 157: Andrade vs. Zhang

UFC Fight Night 157 is in the books and we’ve got a new UFC Strawweight champion in the form of Weili Zhang. The Chinese fighter pulled off a massive upset to TKO Jessica Andrade in the first minute of their title fight in front of her home country fans, in what will probably go down as one of the year’s most memorable moments.

Outside of that, the card was relatively unmemorable, but those appear to be the breaks when you’re talking about an international UFC show these days.

Here are the best and worst moments from UFC Fight Night 157: Andrade vs. Zhang.

#1 Best: Zhang’s win could open the floodgates for the UFC in China

It took Zhang less than a minute to deal with Jessica Andrade

Well, nothing else could really be in this slot, could it? Jessica Andrade came into this fight, her first title defence since unseating Rose Namajunas in May, looking confident, and didn’t appear to be treating challenger Weili Zhang as any kind of threat. Big mistake. Andrade tried to walk ‘Magnum’ down as she’d done to so many opponents before, but got hurt by a big right hand before a barrage of elbows and knees from the clinch had her finished in just 42 seconds.

This was an amazing win by Zhang; she’d always shown huge potential, but to say this was a breakout performance from her would be an understatement. Better still – from a UFC point of view at least – is the fact that China has its first ever UFC champion. The promotion has been dying to make an inroad into China for years now – remember the diabolical TUF: China series from 2014? – but the country just hasn’t been able to produce a top-level UFC fighter, until now that is.

UFC president Dana White has now suggested Zhang’s first title defense – likely against top contender Tatiana Suarez – will be in the US, but I’m not sure that’s a smart move. Why not try to do another big show in China instead to really cement Zhang as a star there? Although to be fair, on this form it’d be hard to bet against her anyway and so the UFC could always do a China show as her second defense.

Simply put, this was one of the best and most memorable UFC title victories in some time.

#1 Worst: The cancellation of Evloev vs. Zhenhong

Movsar Evloev will have to wait for his second UFC fight after his scrap with Lu Zhenhong was cancelled

On a card like this – with so little in the way of name value – it’s always nice to see at least one or two strong prospects and despite a dull showing in his UFC debut back in April, the 11-0 Russian Movsar Evloev seemed to be one of the best up-and-comers to be featured on this card. Which is why the cancellation of his fight with Lu Zhenhong was the worst part of the show.

Sure, nobody was to blame for this one being chalked off; both men were apparently ready to make weight, only for Zhenhong to suffer a cut during a late sparring session that was enough to force him out of the fight. But that didn’t make the loss of the fight any easier to stomach – particularly because the fight that was promoted to the main card was a bit of a sloppy one in the form of Kenan Song vs. Derrick Krantz.

Sure, Evloev will definitely get a chance to impress sooner rather than later – and the fight with Zhenhong may well be re-booked for a show later in 2019 – but it was still frustrating to lose a key fight from what was already a thin card.

#2 Best: The Leech pulls off the biggest win of his career

Jingliang Li picked up a huge win over Elizeu Zaleski

While Weili Zhang obviously became the biggest Chinese success in UFC history with her title win, it must be said that trailblazer Jingliang Li isn’t far behind her – and with his win here against Elizeu Zaleski Dos Santos, he should probably be given an opponent in the top 15, if not top 10, for his next fight.

I didn’t give ‘The Leech’ much of a chance in this fight if I’m honest; he has a tendency to get rocked badly in almost all of his fights and Zaleski had a reputation as one of the best strikers in the 170lbs division and was also on a 7-fight win streak coming into the fight. But this time Li looked different – his defense and footwork was on point and Zaleski simply couldn’t land cleanly on him.

Better still for Li, despite heading for a clear-cut decision win, he was able to hurt and finish the Brazilian with just seconds to go, becoming the first man to finish Zaleski with strikes. Welterweight may be a loaded division but you’d have to put Li in the mix now – and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him headline the UFC’s next trip to China.

#3 Best: Kai Kara-France continues his entertaining run

Kai Kara-France looked excellent in his win over Mark De La Rosa

Thanks to a pair of less than inspiring fights in the form of Derrick Krantz vs. Kenan Song and Mizuki Inoue vs. Wu Yanan, the main card wasn’t exactly looking very good at the halfway mark. Thankfully that changed when Kai Kara-France faced off with Mark De La Rosa and put on another entertaining fight.

The young Kiwi Flyweight is now 3-0 in the Octagon and while he hasn’t picked up a finish yet, winning all three of his fights by decision, you can’t fault him for effort. ‘Don’t Blink’ is simply massive fun to watch, and today’s fight might’ve been his best showing to date as he picked De La Rosa apart with his movement and striking, in particular some seriously fast kicks.

How high Kara-France’s ceiling is remains a question mark right now as he has yet to fight an elite-level opponent at 125lbs, but in the UFC’s thinnest division a 3-fight win streak will likely put him in line for a step up, and given his entertaining style it could well be on a UFC main card, too. On a show like this you’re looking for fun fights to watch, and this one definitely lived up to that billing.