Who Does Zhang Weili Train With? Gym, Coach & Teammates

Top MMA fighters often have a great team behind them, and for Zhang Weili, the story isn’t any different. She’s had one of the most illustrious careers among any fighter in history, and a lot of credit has to go to her coaches, teammates, and the people who help her in other ways.

It’s well documented that the Chinese juggernaut worked various odd jobs before getting into the world of mixed martial arts. Nevertheless, she has been training in martial arts since the age of six and has since become one of the top fighters hailing from China. Here’s what we know about ‘Magnum’s current set of coaches and teammates.

Who is Zhang Weili’s coach? Does she train with Henry Cejudo?

‘Magnum’ used to work as a fitness instructor when she started taking jiu-jitsu lessons after being inspired by watching others grapple in the gym she worked at. She got acquainted with the fighters who trained there and one of them was Wu Haotian, a pioneer of Chinese MMA, who was also Zhang Weili’s idol. He pushed the reigning UFC strawweight champion to start her MMA training.

When she started off her MMA journey, Xuejun Cai, who later became her agent, was her head coach. Additionally, ‘Magnum’ has also trained under John Wood who’s a part of Syndicate MMA. The UFC champion also has help for the grappling aspect of her fighting style – a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu coach named Pedro Jordao.

The 35-year-old also trained with former double champion Henry Cejudo for her UFC 268 fight, who has also trained with the reigning heavyweight champion, Jon Jones. “I learned a lot of wrestling techniques with my good friend Henry Cejudo, as well as distance control, mind game, and something about mental toughness. I think it all makes me stronger,” Zhang Weili told UFC.com ahead of the event. Now, it’s time to see the other fighters in her team. Here’s what we know.

Where does Zhang Weili train? Gym & teammates

When the UFC strawweight champion met Wu Haotian, she started training at the Black Tiger Fight Club, which consists mostly of Chinese fighters since it’s based in the Chinese capital of Beijing. From that gym, she has one teammate who currently fights in the UFC – Kenan Song. When it comes to Weili’s other teammates from that gym, include her idol Wu Haotian, Shaoxiang Wang, and Shuai Zhang, just to name a few.

It’s important to note that Zhang Weili also trained at Bangtao Muay Thai and MMA occasionally. From that gym, she doesn’t really have any UFC fighters for teammates, but she did have Bruno Miranda, who’s competing under the PFL banner. Currently, on a 4-fight winning streak, Zhang Weili’s upcoming title defense looks like a serious challenge, at least on paper, given that she’ll be taking a contender, Tatiana Suarez, who’s yet to taste defeat in her professional fighting career.

It remains to be seen if she can continue her title reign in the aftermath of UFC 312, but in the meantime, let us know your thoughts on the fight in the comments down below.