Weili Zhang, Joanna Jedrzejczyk (©UFC)

“Magnum” Zhang Weili, 30, of Hebei, China is still the reigning champion of the Ultimate Fighting Championship in the women’s strawweight division. The Chinese mixed martial artist successfully defended her belt at “UFC 248” on March 7, 2020.

Featuring 11 MMA matches, including two title bouts, the UFC held “UFC 248” at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. In the co-main event of the evening, Zhang defended the UFC Women’s Strawweight Championship belt from Joanna Jedrzejczyk, 32, of Olsztyn, Poland.

Keith Peterson served as the referee. In the first round, Jedrzejczyk landed a right hand and Zhang answered by throwing with power.

Locked up against the fence, Zhang landed elbows and Jedrzejczyk responded with knees in the second round. The defending champion raised a welt on her challenger’s head in the third round but the latter responded by finishing the round strong.

After receiving a hard shot to the forehead from Zhang in the fourth round, Jedrzejczyk kept moving forward and landed an elbow.

At the end of the fifth round, Jedrzejczyk landed a spinning backfist and Zhang responded with a good punch. After five five-minute rounds, the title bout was left in the hands of the judges.

Two judges saw it 48-47 in favor of the Chinese defending champion while one scored it 48-47 in favor of the Polish challenger. In the end, Peterson raised the hand of Zhang, who was declared the winner via split decision.

“UFC 248” marks Zhang’s first title defense as the reigning UFC Women’s Strawweight Champion. It improved her professional MMA record to 21 wins and 1 loss.

On the other hand, Jedrzejczyk now has 16 wins and 4 losses. It was her fourth loss in the UFC.

Including China and Poland, a total of 12 countries were represented at “UFC 248.” The others were Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Denmark, Georgia, Mexico, Mongolia, New Zealand, Russia and the U.S.

Zhang was one of the two representatives of China. Jedrzejczyk solely represented Poland.