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UFC 248: Zhang Weili & Joanna Jedrzejczyk Octagon Interviews

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Zhang Weili defended her strawweight title at UFC 248 by edging out Joanna Jedrzejczyk in a five-round striking marathon that immediately entered the conversation for the greatest women’s fight in history.

The co-main event at the T-Mobile Arena on March 7, 2020, saw Zhang retain her belt with a narrow split-decision victory, with judges scoring the bout 48-47, 47-48, and 48-47. The encounter was defined by a record-breaking 351 combined significant strikes, leaving both fighters with visible damage that necessitated immediate hospital transport.

• Zhang and Jedrzejczyk combined for 351 significant strikes, setting a new record for volume in a women’s UFC bout.
• The judges’ split-decision scorecards reflected the razor-thin margins of the fight, which ended with Jedrzejczyk suffering a massive, disfiguring hematoma on her forehead.
• Both competitors were unable to attend the post-fight press conference because they were taken directly to a local hospital for medical evaluation.

The Personal Stakes of the Training Camp

The fight was the culmination of an arduous preparation period for the champion. During her Octagon interview, Zhang detailed how her training camp was uprooted by the coronavirus outbreak in China, forcing her to relocate from her home country to Thailand and then to Abu Dhabi to secure her place on the card. She told Joe Rogan, “I had a long way to get here,” emphasizing her desire to provide a source of strength for her home country during the epidemic.

I had a long way to get here.

Jedrzejczyk, despite absorbing 165 significant strikes that left her forehead severely swollen, remained resilient throughout the post-fight proceedings. She acknowledged the champion’s power immediately, noting that she felt the impact of Zhang’s strikes from the opening round. Even amidst the visible physical trauma, she received widespread praise from fans and analysts for her technical durability and sportsmanship.

The Response from UFC Leadership

The intensity of the 25-minute war did not go unnoticed by UFC management. Dana White, who witnessed the back-and-forth exchanges from ringside, declared the matchup to be one of the best fights he had ever seen in the promotion’s history. The competitive nature of the bout, which served as a boxing and mma spectacle, elevated the profile of the strawweight division significantly.

With the 25-minute war officially in the books, the promotion must now wait for the Nevada State Athletic Commission to release its medical suspensions before any potential rematch or title defense against top-ranked contenders like Rose Namajunas can be discussed.