“As an athlete, I know that everyone will have too many ideas, suggestions, and judgments from the outside. I can‘t say that I fully understand your training so hard and didn’t see the results you want to see, but I am very proud of you. You always support,” he added before ending his message with “Hold your head High!” in English.

Lin was among the Weibo users to use the hashtag “Zhang Weili regret lost” which had some 8.3 million reads.

The topic was dwarfed by the “UFC 268” hashtag – which clocked up 120 million reads by Sunday afternoon – and “Zhang Weili and Rose Second World War”, which had been read more than 250 million times on Weibo.

Chinese karate star Gong Li, who won a bronze medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games this summer, also praised Zhang on her Weibo. “Don‘t judge the hero by success or failure! You are the hero! Zhang Weili,” she wrote.

UFC 268: Zhang eyes Namajunas trilogy – ‘I’ll get my belt back’

Chinese actress Yao Chen also posted on Weibo, writing “It‘s a glorious defeat!” in a post.

She had earlier posted that she was watching the fight. “Weili, come on!” she wrote along with screenshots from the live broadcast.

Chinese boxer Xu Can was commentating on the broadcast in China and said he was looking forward to a trilogy match after the fight.

“This is a very exciting match. Weili persisted throughout the game,” Xu said. “After all, it was an away game in the United States. I don’t have any opinions on Weili. I think she performed today, very good.

“Judging from today’s game, Zhang Weili is the most threatening opponent to Rose. I look forward to the third battle between the two.”