Zhang vs Namajunas Set For UFC 261, Joins Shevchenko vs Andrade

A women’s strawweight title fight has been made official with division champion, Zhang Weili, agreeing to put her title up for grabs against former champion, Rose Namajunas, at the upcoming UFC 261 pay-per-view (PPV) event on April 24.

Zhang is currently riding an impressive 21-fight win streak, with the lone loss of her career going down in Nov. 2013 in her mixed martial arts (MMA) debut. Since making her UFC debut in Nov. 2018, she has won five straight including a knockout win over Jessica Andrade in Aug. 2019 which earned her the division strap in just 42 seconds.

She then defended the title six months later at UFC 248 by defeating former 125-pound queenpin, Joanna Jedrzejczyk, via unanimous decision in an epic war. Namajunas, on the other hand, was last seen getting some revenge on Andrade at UFC 251 in July 2020 after getting knocked out by “Bate Estaca” at UFC 237 just 11 months earlier.

The main event of 261 will see women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko defend her title against the aforementioned Jessica Andrade in what will be just her second fight in the division.

Predictions?