Amanda Nunes vs. Kayla Harrison might not be the only women’s MMA super-fight being booked in the near future.
UFC Strawweight Champion Zhang Weili is hoping to potentially move up to flyweight and face current 125-pound champ Valentina Shevchenko, pairing up two of the most successful fighters in their respective weight classes over the past few years.
When given the possibilities of facing either Shevchenko or top-ranked strawweight contender Virna Jandiroba, Zhang told MMA Junkie that she’d prefer a fight up at flyweight.
“I want to go up [to flyweight],” Zhang said during an interview at UFC X, an annual convention held last weekend in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Zhang has put together the best run at 115 pounds since Joanna Jedrzejczyk’s 966-day campaign from 2015 to 2017.
She has defended her belt three times since kicking off her second reign in late 2022, most recently handing Tatiana Suarez her first loss in a five-round decision earlier this year.
A big question regarding a potential flyweight move for Zhang would be what that would do for her multi-year run at strawweight. While UFC CEO Dana White says he isn’t against the idea of simultaneous two-division champs, he has mentioned that fighters must remain active in both weight classes if they expect to hold their belts.
In the case of Zhang, White has said before that he approves of a two-division pursuit.
“She’s accomplished just about everything you can accomplish in her weight division and I don’t have a problem with it,” White said specifically about Zhang in February, per MMA Junkie.
Zhang noted last weekend that she doesn’t know what would happen in the event of a move to flyweight: “I don’t know. Let me see,” she said.
If allowed to hold her strawweight title while challenging Shevchenko up at flyweight, it would give Zhang the chance to become just the second woman to simultaneously hold belts in two divisions. Past simultaneous champs in the UFC include Conor McGregor, Daniel Cormier, Amanda Nunes (twice), and Henry Cejudo.
Zhang hasn’t fought up at flyweight since 2017, when she was still competing on the Chinese regional scene.
