UFC 268: how Zhang Weili’s fight camp is recalibrating her actions – and attitude – for Rose Namajunas rematch
- Teammates on hand to let rip at the Chinese fighter verbally as she enters the gym, and as she spars
- Former strawweight champ’s long-time BJJ coach says Henry Cejudo is helping change her approach – physically and mentally
The word leaking out of her training camp has been that Zhang Weili is being remade in the lead-up to her New York return clash with Rose Namajunas at UFC 268 on November 6.
Zhang’s long-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu coach Pedro Jordao has confirmed those rumours as fact. “The camp here is going very well and [Henry] Cejudo is very present at her training.” he told the Post. “You guys are gonna see a new version of Zhang Weili.”
And Jordao is in a unique position to gauge exactly what effect the extra attention is having on Zhang (21-2), as she seeks to bounce back from a first-round TKO in April, when a surprise Namajunas (10-4) head kick laid her out and took her title away.
The Brazilian was there the very first day in 2015 when Zhang appeared at Beijing’s Black Tiger Gym looking to learn how to grapple. And he has been part of the Zhang entourage ever since, as she fought her way through and up the Chinese domestic scene and on to glory in the UFC.
“She was my first student, the second person I was in contact with in China on my first day of working,” explained Jordao, a third-degree black belt who’s now head coach at the Gracie Barra Shunyi gym in Beijing. “She was and is still very humble and shy, but very interested in learning.
