Former UFC strawweight champion Zhang Weili is making a big change to her training camp ahead of a rematch with Rose Namajunas at UFC 268.
UFC 268 take place at Madison Square Garden in New York on November 6. The main event card will be broadcasted live on ESPN + pay-per-view.
Zhang and Namajunas first fought at UFC 261, where Numajunas scored a shocking head-kick KO just 78 sesonds into the April bout. It was the second time Namajunas won the UFC strawweight title after knocking out Joanna Jedrzejczyk, then winning an immediate rematch before dropping the belt to Jessica Andrade.
Zhang, 32, is from Handan, Hebei, China, and previously trained at the Black Tiger Fight Club in Beijing. She will arrive later this month in Arizona.
ESPN has announced that it will bring its regular squad to Arizona, where Albarracin works alongside coaches Santino DeFranco and Eddie Cha.
On tap to attend Zhang’s camp are a laundry list of top fighters: former UFC two-division champion Henry Cejudo, “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung and Patricky Freire.
Former champion Zhang claimed the ‘Fight of the Year’ victory over once-dominant champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk in her first title defense in March 2020. She won the belt with a quick first-round stoppage of Jessica Andrade.
“I believe I will also come back, only beat a great champion, to become a legend, and beat a legend, I will become a new me. Before, my goal was to win the UFC championship, but today, I have a higher goal than that.” Zhang said.
“It’s normal to lose and win. That’s the UFC. [Jessica] Andrade, Joanna [Jedrzejczyk], Rose have all lost and they all come back and try again. I have deepened my understanding of UFC today. So I believe I can come back. Hopefully the UFC will schedule a rematch soon.” she added.
