{"id":381442,"date":"2021-04-07T18:34:14","date_gmt":"2021-04-08T01:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=381442"},"modified":"2022-02-04T15:26:01","modified_gmt":"2022-02-04T23:26:01","slug":"zhang-weili-hopes-to-befriend-rose-namajunas-after-ufc-261-clash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/zhang-weili-hopes-to-befriend-rose-namajunas-after-ufc-261-clash\/","title":{"rendered":"Zhang Weili hopes to befriend Rose Namajunas after UFC 261 clash"},"content":{"rendered":"

At UFC 261 on April 24, Zhang Weili and Rose Namajunas<\/a> will be anything but friendly with one another \u2013 the current champ hopes that won’t be the case in the aftermath.<\/p>\n

Coming into the co-main event of the first event to have full crowds back in the UFC, Zhang expects a great battle with her challenger. From there, they can go on to be cordial.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom an exchange of blows, friendship grows,\u201d Zhang said via South China Morning Post<\/a>. \u201cSo I hope maybe we will become friends after this fight.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s because Rose is a humble and very great fighter. She beat Joanna [Jedrzejczyk] twice and won against [Jessica] Andrade. She is a competitor with very good ability and I have always hoped I can fight with her. I feel a connection to those who fight martial arts, and we build friendships through the martial arts. We learn from each other and exchange our views when we fight together.”<\/p>\n

For the reigning champion in Zhang, this will be her first fight back in action after a year away from the Octagon. In her last appearance, “Magnum” made a successful first defense of her strawweight title in what was the consensus best fight of 2020 vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk.<\/p>\n

Like China’s Zhang, Namajunas also had just a single fight in 2020. A former titleholder herself, Namajunas’ lone bout saw her get redemption against Jessica Andrade \u2013 the fighter who took the title from her via devastating slam the year prior.<\/p>\n

Zhang Weili and Rose Namajunas are two of the UFC strawweight division’s five champions in history. For the current champ, she’s been watching “Thug” for a good while now.<\/p>\n

\u201cI came to know about Rose in the early days,\u201d Zhang said. \u201cI have been paying attention to her during her fights. Her fist work is very fast. Her punches are also very accurate. We definitely have had specific training for that. I hope everyone can watch the live broadcast to see how I target her.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At UFC 261 on April 24, Zhang Weili and Rose Namajunas will be anything but friendly with one another \u2013 the current champ hopes that won’t be the case in the aftermath. Coming into the co-main event of the first event to have full crowds back in the UFC, Zhang expects a great battle with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54445,"featured_media":376818,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10651,39610,39687],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nZhang Weili hopes to befriend Rose Namajunas after UFC 261 clash<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"At UFC 261 on April 24, Zhang Weili and Rose Namajunas will be anything but friendly with one another. The champ hopes that's different after.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/zhang-weili-hopes-to-befriend-rose-namajunas-after-ufc-261-clash\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Zhang Weili hopes to befriend Rose Namajunas after UFC 261 clash\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"At UFC 261 on April 24, Zhang Weili and Rose Namajunas will be anything but friendly with one another. The champ hopes that's different after.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/zhang-weili-hopes-to-befriend-rose-namajunas-after-ufc-261-clash\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"| BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-04-08T01:34:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-02-04T23:26:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/Weili-Zhang-Rpse-NAmajunas.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"696\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"399\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Drake Riggs\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/DrakeRiggs_\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Drake Riggs\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/zhang-weili-hopes-to-befriend-rose-namajunas-after-ufc-261-clash\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/zhang-weili-hopes-to-befriend-rose-namajunas-after-ufc-261-clash\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Drake Riggs\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/cb9453802ca47ce42b30bfa92ade0bc7\"},\"headline\":\"Zhang Weili hopes to befriend Rose Namajunas after UFC 261 clash\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-04-08T01:34:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-04T23:26:01+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/zhang-weili-hopes-to-befriend-rose-namajunas-after-ufc-261-clash\/\"},\"wordCount\":339,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Rose Namajunas\",\"UFC\",\"Weili Zhang\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/zhang-weili-hopes-to-befriend-rose-namajunas-after-ufc-261-clash\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2021\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/zhang-weili-hopes-to-befriend-rose-namajunas-after-ufc-261-clash\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/zhang-weili-hopes-to-befriend-rose-namajunas-after-ufc-261-clash\/\",\"name\":\"Zhang Weili hopes to befriend Rose Namajunas after UFC 261 clash\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-04-08T01:34:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-04T23:26:01+00:00\",\"description\":\"At UFC 261 on April 24, Zhang Weili and Rose Namajunas will be anything but friendly with one another. The champ hopes that's different after.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/zhang-weili-hopes-to-befriend-rose-namajunas-after-ufc-261-clash\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/zhang-weili-hopes-to-befriend-rose-namajunas-after-ufc-261-clash\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/zhang-weili-hopes-to-befriend-rose-namajunas-after-ufc-261-clash\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"MMA News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"UFC\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Zhang Weili hopes to befriend Rose Namajunas after UFC 261 clash\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"description\":\"MMA & UFC News, Results & Fight Videos\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png\",\"width\":600,\"height\":148,\"caption\":\"| BJPenn.com\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/bjpenndotcom\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/0fficialbjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bjpenndotcom\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/cb9453802ca47ce42b30bfa92ade0bc7\",\"name\":\"Drake Riggs\",\"description\":\"Drake Riggs is an MMA writer based out of Brush Prairie, Washington, USA who specializes in feature pieces, the women's fight scene, lists, news coverage, and rankings. He has been a passionate fan of MMA ever since 2009. Drake has most notably written for BJPenn.com, FanSided, The Body Lock, South China Morning Post, MyMMANews, WhatCulture, Cageside Press, Sherdog, The Scrap, and MMA Today. He has also written for and created video content for RT Sport. As for other sports, Drake is a longtime fan of the NFL's Green Bay Packers and Jacksonville Jaguars. You can follow him on Twitter and Instagram: @DrakeRiggs_ . Also check out all of his video content on YouTube at YouTube.com\/DrakeRiggs where he uploads fighter interviews, podshows, and various other types of content.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/drakeriggs.journoportfolio.com\/\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/drakeriggs_\",\"Drake Riggs\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/DrakeRiggs_\",\"YouTube.com\/Drake Riggs\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/author\/drake\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Zhang Weili hopes to befriend Rose Namajunas after UFC 261 clash","description":"At UFC 261 on April 24, Zhang Weili and Rose Namajunas will be anything but friendly with one another. The champ hopes that's different after.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/zhang-weili-hopes-to-befriend-rose-namajunas-after-ufc-261-clash\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Zhang Weili hopes to befriend Rose Namajunas after UFC 261 clash","og_description":"At UFC 261 on April 24, Zhang Weili and Rose Namajunas will be anything but friendly with one another. The champ hopes that's different after.","og_url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/zhang-weili-hopes-to-befriend-rose-namajunas-after-ufc-261-clash\/","og_site_name":"| BJPenn.com","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn","article_published_time":"2021-04-08T01:34:14+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-02-04T23:26:01+00:00","og_image":[{"width":696,"height":399,"url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/Weili-Zhang-Rpse-NAmajunas.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Drake Riggs","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/DrakeRiggs_","twitter_site":"@bjpenndotcom","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Drake Riggs","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/zhang-weili-hopes-to-befriend-rose-namajunas-after-ufc-261-clash\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/zhang-weili-hopes-to-befriend-rose-namajunas-after-ufc-261-clash\/"},"author":{"name":"Drake Riggs","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/cb9453802ca47ce42b30bfa92ade0bc7"},"headline":"Zhang Weili hopes to befriend Rose Namajunas after UFC 261 clash","datePublished":"2021-04-08T01:34:14+00:00","dateModified":"2022-02-04T23:26:01+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/zhang-weili-hopes-to-befriend-rose-namajunas-after-ufc-261-clash\/"},"wordCount":339,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Rose Namajunas","UFC","Weili Zhang"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/zhang-weili-hopes-to-befriend-rose-namajunas-after-ufc-261-clash\/#respond"]}],"copyrightYear":"2021","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/zhang-weili-hopes-to-befriend-rose-namajunas-after-ufc-261-clash\/","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/zhang-weili-hopes-to-befriend-rose-namajunas-after-ufc-261-clash\/","name":"Zhang Weili hopes to befriend Rose Namajunas after UFC 261 clash","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-04-08T01:34:14+00:00","dateModified":"2022-02-04T23:26:01+00:00","description":"At UFC 261 on April 24, Zhang Weili and Rose Namajunas will be anything but friendly with one another. The champ hopes that's different after.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/zhang-weili-hopes-to-befriend-rose-namajunas-after-ufc-261-clash\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/zhang-weili-hopes-to-befriend-rose-namajunas-after-ufc-261-clash\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/zhang-weili-hopes-to-befriend-rose-namajunas-after-ufc-261-clash\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"MMA News","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"UFC","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Zhang Weili hopes to befriend Rose Namajunas after UFC 261 clash"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/","name":"| BJPenn.com","description":"MMA & UFC News, Results & Fight Videos","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization","name":"| BJPenn.com","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png","width":600,"height":148,"caption":"| BJPenn.com"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/instagram.com\/bjpenn","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bjpenn","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/bjpenndotcom\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/0fficialbjpenn","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn","https:\/\/twitter.com\/bjpenndotcom"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/cb9453802ca47ce42b30bfa92ade0bc7","name":"Drake Riggs","description":"Drake Riggs is an MMA writer based out of Brush Prairie, Washington, USA who specializes in feature pieces, the women's fight scene, lists, news coverage, and rankings. He has been a passionate fan of MMA ever since 2009. Drake has most notably written for BJPenn.com, FanSided, The Body Lock, South China Morning Post, MyMMANews, WhatCulture, Cageside Press, Sherdog, The Scrap, and MMA Today. He has also written for and created video content for RT Sport. As for other sports, Drake is a longtime fan of the NFL's Green Bay Packers and Jacksonville Jaguars. You can follow him on Twitter and Instagram: @DrakeRiggs_ . Also check out all of his video content on YouTube at YouTube.com\/DrakeRiggs where he uploads fighter interviews, podshows, and various other types of content.","sameAs":["https:\/\/drakeriggs.journoportfolio.com\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/drakeriggs_","Drake Riggs","https:\/\/twitter.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/DrakeRiggs_","YouTube.com\/Drake Riggs"],"url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/author\/drake\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381442"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54445"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381442\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}