Zhang vs. Jedrzejczyk...The Real UFC248 Maint Event
UFC 248 gave us a great battle for the female straw weight title where the winners were the MMA fans.
Hi Steemians, last night March 7th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, took place one of the most anticipated mixed martial arts events of this year, the UFC248, full of a lot of fights which was headed by two title defenses, one was the middleweight in the men's division and another that would serve as the main co-event was for the female strawweight title where they would be facing Zhang Weili (Champion) vs Joanna Jędrzejczyk, which is in the third position of the ranking of that category, both fighters would leave the bar very high in what was expected to be the fight of the night because despite the quality of both fighters already mentioned, everyone wanted to see the show between two fighters who knew how to sell their fight in every face they had, but in the end they did not satisfy the expectations that many fans had in this fight and more when two warriors left everything in the octagon minutes ago.
Even though the fight between Zhang and Joanna was the main co-event, the people at the T-Mobile Arena and those of us who saw the event in our homes, knew that we were about to see something special, all because of the quality of these fighters, starting with the challenger who reigned in this division for a long time and was only one defense away from tying or surpassing the record of title defenses that had none other than Ronda Rousey and that is the Polish fighter who has been active in the world of fighting since 2012, has dominated every time she has stepped into a ring or the octagon, having a lot of wins and very few losses and it is her experience in Muay Thai and Kickboxing, along with her reach and shot put defense that became the perfect formula to dominate the MMA world and be a long time UFC champion, It must be said that she has only one defeat by way of a knockout and that was when she lost her undefeated and straw-weight championship title to Rose Namajunas, her other defeats were by way of the judges' decision.
Zhang Weili the current female straw weight champion, is another great fighter with a high level not only in her striking, but has been evolving in her fight on the ground by her training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, where she has already obtained the purple belt, The Chinese fighter has been active since 2013 to date and has an excellent record of 21 fights won and 1 defeat that would be just in his first fight in the MMA and was by the way of decision, his technique is made by the power and strength of their punches, She always presses and goes forward because she has a lot of confidence in getting the right punch to knock down her opponent or with the power she has to take her to the ground and look for submission, which she has achieved and given her the victory in seven occasions, I have seen her last three fights in UFC and each time I have seen her with a lot of confidence, she has faced great fighters where the confrontations vary in being very easy or complicated and lengthening in time, but that doesn't seem to matter to her because she always keeps alert in attack without stopping pressing and fighting.
It is clear that if there was a great emotion to see these two warriors face each other for the first time, each one has the potential to steal the night by giving a great show, a great fight that can be remembered for a long time and I am glad that it was so, to say that if I had a favorite or could not it would be to try to fool you, but it is not, But I wanted the champion to keep her title because I think this division has the maximum potential to be exploited, even if there are dominators like Joanna or another one, I think there can be many fights that have not been seen, having as a star Weili defending her title, but for that I had to wait to see what would happen in this fight. I have always believed that Joanna's height and range is a great advantage, as well as her speed, which leads her to throw a lot of punches, making her opponent weak while the fight goes on, That great volume of hits makes her dominate in the necessary rounds and most of the time makes her win her fights and as it had been seen before, this would happen in the same way, fast kicks to the legs of the champion, punches to the face of Zhang, a tactic that served a lot in the first two rounds, because the Polish fighter hit the champion's left leg with powerful Low Kicks and every time Zhang threw a punch with her right arm, Most of the time she stayed in the air and that was taken advantage of by Joanna and she refueled by hitting with her left hand towards the face of the Chinese fighter and until the end of the second round she could kick the face of Zhang which could even mean the end of the fight, now by the champion, not that the first two rounds she stood there being hit, Zhang could connect good punches, but by not reaching the necessary distance she could frustrate the champion at times and it seemed that she did not have the formula to hurt her opponent, but as time went by she could feel more serene, resting when she went to the clinch, Kick the body and wait for the right moment to hit the face of Joanna that even though her corner indicated that the champion was getting tired, in reality the same thing happened to her, she could not move faster, she did not kick the necessary to maintain a distance and that led to her receiving more damage from the champion, A radical change from the third round onwards and that was reflected in the big bruise on the challenger's forehead, which she only had to lower her face so that each blow hit the forehead, but Zhang's power was too much and did a lot of damage, So between the tiredness and the pain and the pressure maintained by the champion, it was clear that Jaonna had it very difficult to win, but that did not prevent her from staying within the octagon trying to make a lucky strike that unfortunately for her never came.
Zhang Weili, remained as champion, fought for five rounds with one of the best fighters in the world and all this in their first defense for the title, will have to wait until April 18 this year in the event UFC249, where they will face two former champions Jesica Andrade and Rose Namajunas and where I think the winner of that rematch, will be the next to face the champion, now with respect to Joanna Jędrzejczyk, I would like to see her face Angela Hill, Tecia Torres or Yan Xiaonan, fighters with winning streaks in recent events, mostly Hill and Yan, but this category has a large number of fighters that can give future great fights to the champion. This great fight between these two women should make Dana White finally stop to lessen the value of the women's division in the UFC, this is the second time that a women's title is the main co-event so far this year, but just this fight between Zhang and Joanna, made fighters, audience in the stadium or in their homes to rise to applause, with what I said earlier of both warriors, It is clear that they could be the main event in any event and what happened that night made it so, leaving or forgetting the fight for the middleweight title in oblivion, I just hope that when they decide to defend their title, do not expect the event is in China to give a maint event, I think the show is confirmed at least by the champion.
