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Singapore (AFP) – Chinese historical past-maker Zhang Weili and two planet title fights headline the return of the Greatest Battling Championship (UFC) to Asia on Sunday soon after a crack of additional than two years mainly because of Covid.
Previous strawweight champions Zhang and Joanna Jedrzejczyk of Poland are established to battle at UFC 275 in Singapore in a rematch of their March 2020 clash which UFC president Dana White calls “the finest combat at any time”.
Substantially has transformed given that the pair fought each other to a bloody standstill throughout 5 thrilling rounds in Las Vegas.
Zhang was the winner then, China’s first in UFC and the country’s facial area of MMA, and correctly defended her title with a break up-choice victory.
But she has considering the fact that endured two defeats in a row to Rose Namajunas, surrendering her crown in the system, while fellow previous winner Jedrzejczyk has remained on the peripheries of the sport at any time since that fateful evening two many years ago.
There is no belt on the line this time but the victor at Singapore Indoor Stadium will get the chance to earn the title back in opposition to America’s current strawweight queen Carla Esparza.
“I think now I know MMA deeper than I did ahead of,” the 32-yr-outdated Zhang informed AFP this week.
“In the course of the to start with combat with Joanna my ideas ended up uncomplicated: I wished to get.
“But combating is an invisible language and even however we ended up preventing, we revered just about every other extra and a lot more in the course of.
“It’s like the Chinese saying, ‘Out of blows, friendship grows.'”
Zhang, who is nevertheless China’s only ever UFC champion, is seeking at executing extra than simply get her crown again.
“Talking from a religious degree, I hope UFC admirers see the strong heart that I have when I encounter a trouble and then conquer it,” additional Zhang.
“I actually hope I can inspire additional persons, so I am heading for it on Sunday.”
Jedrzejczyk has been biding her time, locked in extended negotiations with the UFC for a return to the cage and a possibility to ultimately reclaim the belt she held from 2015 to 2017.
“What a fight this should be,” UFC supremo White said this 7 days.
“Weili is however the quantity-two-rated fighter in the earth so this is a very essential rematch. It can be these a large fight so it is straight in from the winner for the winner.”
Two title clashes
The 12-bout card on Sunday morning — prime time Saturday night in the United States –provides the Las Vegas-based mostly UFC a probability to relaunch its ambitions in Asia.
The pandemic put the UFC’s expansion plans on maintain in early 2020, just months just after the organisation launched a $14 million centre in Shanghai made to nurture expertise from the region.
A “Street to UFC” match for unsigned talent from Asia took spot on Thursday and Friday in Singapore. There are 10 fighters from Asia and Australasia on the monthly bill on Sunday.
Two environment title bouts involving fighters with backstories from Asia will cap the action.
Brazilian light-weight heavyweight champion Glover Teixeira faces Czech fighter Jiri Prochazka, who for years was an MMA winner in Japan.
In the women’s flyweight, Brazilian challenger Taila Santos will try out to tame the Kyrgyz-Peruvian winner Valentina Shevchenko, who invested a decade honing her craft in the wild domestic fight activity scene in China.
The 34-12 months-outdated Shevchenko, unbeaten considering the fact that 2017, has flown underneath the radar in terms of mainstream global recognition.
White believes it’s time that improved.
“Valentina is just one of the biggest woman fighters of all time,” he explained.
“But Santos has 10 wins by knockout, her file is 19-1. It is just a challenging exam, but if Valentina rips by means of her like she has everyone else, maybe then people will genuinely start to appreciate what we have with her.”
© 2022 AFP