How Many Times Has Zhang Weili Lost to Rose Namajunas? Know About All the Defeats of the UFC Champ

‘Magnum’ Zhang Weili‘s status as a two-time UFC strawweight champion is a testament to how consistently she’s been able to win. However, like many other fighters, Weili also has a few losses on her record.

Zhang Weili currently holds a record of 24 wins and three losses. She will look to add another win to her resume at the historic UFC 300 pay-per-view. However, when it comes to her UFC losses, ‘Magnum’ has fallen victim to one particular fighter, who is also a former champion.

Rose Namajunas – the only fighter to beat Zhang Weili twice

After going 3-0 since her debut, Zhang Weili defeated former champion Jessica Andrade in only her fourth UFC fight to become the strawweight champion for the first time (just like Alex Pereira, who is headlining UFC 300, coincidence?). Her first title defense was against former champion and Hall of Famer Joanna Jędrzejczyk. In a fiery five-round strike fest, she edged past ‘The Boogeywoman’ to earn a split decision win. However, Weili’s undefeated five-fight UFC run ended when she met Rose Namajunas in her next bout.

At UFC 261, the first UFC event on US soil to have full attendance post-COVID, Weili, and Namajunas clashed in the co-main event, one of the three title fights on the card. Interestingly, their common past opponent, Jessica Andrade, was also fighting in a title clash against Valentina Shevchenko the same evening.

The Jacksonville crowd was extremely pro-Namajunas with deafening “USA” chants and boos for Weili. And to their delight, Namajunas head kicked Weili to secure a KO finish in the first round, dethroning the champion in her second-ever UFC title defense. Later, ‘Magnum’ claimed that the crowd heavily favoring her opponent may have pressured her and cost her the win.

This fight had more than just the title stakes behind it, with certain charged remarks from Namajunas about communism before the fight moving the American fans to her side, something that did not help Weili’s cause. But the case was different in their rematch.

Weili fought Namajunas a second time at UFC 268 and put up a great fight in comparison to the first one. She even trained under fellow UFC star and former double champion Henry Cejudo in preparation. However, that was not enough as ‘Thug’ edged past ‘Magnum’ via a split decision.

But that is not the only loss the Chinese powerhouse has to her name. She has suffered a third non-Namajunas loss, which, interestingly, came before her time in the UFC.

‘Magnum’ has one loss outside the UFC

Before her advent in the UFC, Zhang Weili fought for multiple other promotions. Out of the 27 fights she has competed in so far, only 10 have been in the UFC. Her first professional loss also came in another promotion in her first-ever MMA fight. Weili made her MMA debut in 2013 in China MMA League, according to ‘Tapology‘, but it did not turn out in her favor.

Zhang Weili’s first opponent was Bo Meng, who now holds a professional record of 21 wins and 7 losses and fights under the ONE Championship banner. Incidentally, the pair made their debuts against each other. The fight ended in Meng’s favor, who earned a unanimous decision win over ‘Magnum’. That loss led Weili to rack up a 21-fight winning streak before eventually falling to Rose Namajunas.

Zhang Weili is now back in the winning column with three wins in a row. Meanwhile, her UFC 300 opponent and fellow Chinese fighter, Yan Xiaonan, is on a two-fight winning streak. Both fighters have momentum on their side, but it remains to be seen who comes out victorious in the first-ever UFC title fight where two Chinese fighters will face each other inside the Octagon.

Also Read: Zhang Weili Fighting Style: Does She Have a Black Belt in BJJ?