Anyone familiar with my blog will know that I always celebrate the new year by naming my female fighter of the previous year. The fighter of the year for 2019 is UFC Strawweight Champion Weili Zhang. Weili is the first Chinese UFC champ. It's a big deal partially because the UFC has invested a lot in mainland China by building a UFC Performance Institute. They have signed several Chinese fighters. But there's no question that Weili has exceeded all expectations. She was born Aug. 13, 1989 in Handan, Hebei, China but she lives in Beijing. She got into martial arts training while working as a fitness instructor. Her trainers are Xuejun Cai and Pedro Jordao for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Weili's record is 20-1. After losing her 2013 debut fight, Weili says she got angry and vowed that she wouldn't allow that to happen again. Since then she has been a wrecking machine. For most of her early career, she fought for the Chinese company Kunlun and she won the KLF Strawweight Championship in May 2017. The competition level in Kunlun is decent considering it can be difficult to get fighters to go there. Emi Fujino was probably her best known opponent in those days. After some title defenses, it was inevitable that Weili would sign with the UFC. Her UFC debut was at UFC 227 in Los Angeles against Danielle Taylor. Unfortunately, her coaches were unable to get visas to come with her. That could have been a disaster. But Weili showed her resolve. And though she was disappointed to not get a finish, she won by unanimous decision. Her next fight was in China against the veteran Jessica Aguilar. This is the fight that got a lot of attention because she destroyed a proven veteran fighter in the first round and finished her with an armbar. She followed this up with a unanimous decision win over Tecia Torres at UFC 235 in Las Vegas. The UFC's original plan was for Weili to fight Michelle Waterson on the main event of the Aug. 31 China show. When Michelle's husband/manager claimed that Weili wasn't well known enough, the UFC asked Jessica Andrade if she would defend her UFC Strawweight Championship in China. She said yes. And after Weili finished Jessica in less than a minute, she became the UFC Strawweight Champion. A star is born. For this performance and also for her ability to finish fights, Weili Zhang is my 2019 Fighter of the Year. She will make her first title defense against Joanna Jedrzejczyk on UFC 248 Mar. 7 in Las Vegas. Weili is training at Roufusport in Milwaukee to prepare for this. It should be very interesting. And don't be surprised if New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is in attendance as he may be Weili's most famous fan.
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