{"id":450537,"date":"2022-06-15T14:24:20","date_gmt":"2022-06-15T21:24:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=450537"},"modified":"2022-06-15T14:24:20","modified_gmt":"2022-06-15T21:24:20","slug":"daniel-cormier-gives-take-on-carla-esparza-vs-weili-zhang-she-might-be-the-biggest-challenger-favorite-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/daniel-cormier-gives-take-on-carla-esparza-vs-weili-zhang-she-might-be-the-biggest-challenger-favorite-ever\/","title":{"rendered":"Daniel Cormier gives take on Carla Esparza vs. Weili Zhang: “She might be the biggest challenger favorite ever”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Daniel Cormier believes that UFC strawweight champion Carla Esparza will be a massive underdog to Weili Zhang.<\/p>\n

‘Cookie Monster’ re-captured the UFC’s strawweight title following a win over Rose Namajunas last month. The win saw her move her win-streak to six, and become champion for the first time since 2015. However, her win over ‘Thug Rose’ was also blasted as one of the worst fights in UFC history.<\/p>\n

Now, just a month into her title reign, Carla Esparza has her first<\/a> challenger. The strawweight champion is set to face Weili Zhang later this year. The 32-year-old is fresh off a knockout victory over Joanna J\u0119drzejczyk last Saturday at UFC 275.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the fight, many believe that Carla Esparza will be a massive underdog. Former UFC dual-weight champion Daniel Cormier is among them. The 43-year-old previewed the matchup on the DC & RC<\/em><\/a> podcast.<\/p>\n

There, Daniel Cormier praised Weili Zhang for her knockout<\/a> win last weekend. It’s likely because of both fighters’ last performances that ‘DC’ believes that ‘Magnum’ will be a massive favorite when she fights Carla Esparza.<\/p>\n

\"Daniel
Daniel Cormier<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“It’s a tale as old as time. Sometimes fighters hang around too long, I don\u2019t think that was the case for Joanna, but Zhang Weili is just in another stage of her career.\u00a0 Whereas Joanna wants to be a mother and a businesswoman. They\u2019re very close in age, but Weili doesn\u2019t have any desire to do any of those other things. All she wants to be is the world champion, and it was on full display on Saturday night.”<\/p>\n

Daniel Cormier continued, “Ultimately the story is about Zhang Weili, and her quest to become the UFC champion for a second time. In a fight, she may be honestly RC, the biggest challenger in terms of a favorite going into a fight that you\u2019ve ever seen in the UFC. She\u2019s gonna be a massive favorite over Carla Esparza.\u201d<\/p>\n

What do you think about Daniel Cormier’s comments? Do you think that Weili Zhang will defeat Carla Esparza? Sound off in the comments below!<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Daniel Cormier believes that UFC strawweight champion Carla Esparza will be a massive underdog to Weili Zhang. ‘Cookie Monster’ re-captured the UFC’s strawweight title following a win over Rose Namajunas last month. The win saw her move her win-streak to six, and become champion for the first time since 2015. However, her win over ‘Thug […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54493,"featured_media":384931,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10259,10153,39610,39687],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nDaniel Cormier gives take on Carla Esparza vs. Weili Zhang: "She might be the biggest challenger favorite ever" | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Fighter-turned-analyst Daniel Cormier believes that Weili Zhang will be a massive favorite over strawweight champion Carla Esparza.\" \/>\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\/daniel-cormier-gives-take-on-carla-esparza-vs-weili-zhang-she-might-be-the-biggest-challenger-favorite-ever\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta 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