The UFC’s strawweight title was up for grabs today in Shenzhen, China, as Jessica Andrade put her belt on the line against Weili Zhang.
Andrade (20-7 MMA) had captured the promotions strawweight title at May’s UFC 237 event by knocking out former champ Rose Namajunas with a body slam.
The Brazilian entered tonight’s UFC Shenzhen headliner on a four-fight win streak which inlcluded decision wins over Tecia Torres and Claudia Gadelha, as well as a nasty knockout of Karolina Kowalkiewicz.
Meanwhile, Weili Zhang (20-1 MMA) was looking to extend her win streak to twenty in a row with a win over Andrade this evening.
The Chinese standout was coming off a dominant decision win over Tecia Torres in her most recent Octagon appearance at UFC 235.
Tonight’s UFC Shenzhen main event did not last long, as Andrade and Zhang immediately started exchaning strikes right from the opening bell.
Zhang would eventually get Andrade in the clinch position, where she delivered some nasty knees had the Brazilian in all sorts of trouble. From there, the hometown favorite would unleash a plethora of strikes which eventually forced the referee to step in and call a stop to the action (watch that here).
Official UFC Shenzhen Result: Weili Zhang def. Jessica Andrade via TKO at :42 of Round 1
With her sensational win over Andrade, Zhang became the first Chinese champion in promotional history.
Check out how the pros reacted to Weili Zhang stopping Jessica Andrade at UFC Shenzhen below:
https://twitter.com/PearlGonzalez/status/1167777684249665536?s=20
Fuck what a destruction #UFCShenzhen
advertisement – continue reading below— Neil 2 Tap Seery (@NeilSeeryMMA) August 31, 2019
Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn!!! #UFCFightNight
— Gerald Harris (@GHurricane) August 31, 2019
https://twitter.com/MeganA_mma/status/1167778785258803200?s=20
https://twitter.com/WonderboyMMA/status/1167779011805581312?s=20
Zhang Weili mf-ers. That girl is the truth ! #UFCShenzhen
— Derek Brunson (@DerekBrunson) August 31, 2019
https://twitter.com/Ealvarezfight/status/1167779088985145345?s=20
Who would you like to see newly crowned UFC strawweight champion Weili Zhang fight in her first title defense? Sound off in the comments section PENN Nation!
This article first appeared on BJPENN.com August 31, 2019