Jessica Andrade vs Weili Zhang to main event Aug. 31 UFC show

The champ goes to China 🇧🇷🏆🇨🇳 pic.twitter.com/kq4iX4F9fu

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) June 11, 2019

Brett Okamoto of ESPN reported this afternoon that Jessica Andrade will defend her UFC Strawweight Championship against Weili Zhang on UFC on ESPN+ 15 Aug. 31 at the Universiade Sports Center in Shenzhen, China. Raphael Marinho of Combate reports that this has been verbally agreed to. They are just waiting for signed bout agreements. I told you guys last week that Weili would be the main event of the China show. I didn't think it would be a title match because those are usually on PPVs. The first thing to remember is the UFC is investing a lot of money in China. They are building a UFC Performance Institute. So the rankings are secondary. Obviously the first option was a title rematch for Rose Namajunas. Today her manager Brian Butler announced that Rose is nursing an injury and she will pass on a rematch for now. Keep in mind Butler also manages Weili. I suggested Tatiana Suarez for a title shot. But she injured her neck on Saturday and is not available. That leaves two options, Weili Zhang and Michelle Waterson. Michelle was in Chicago on Saturday demanding a title shot. UFC president Dana White told her she wasn't ranked high enough. I don't agree with that. But both fighters beat very similar opponents in their last fights. Michelle beat Karolina Kowalkiewicz and Weili beat Tecia Torres. So I think both are deserving. The big difference is the China show is very important to the UFC's business and Weili was going to be in the main event anyway. A title match there is meaningful to the local audience. I would not have had a problem with Michelle getting a title shot and Weili vs Tatiana in China for the next title shot. But Tatiana's injury took that option away. Besides, Weili has been dominant so far so she is a worthy challenger. I think this will be a competitive fight and other than slurping The Karate Hottie, I'm not sure what the complaints are about. So why didn't they have Weili vs Michelle main event China for a title shot. They don't want Jessica sitting around until Christmas. That's what would have happened.