Zhang Weili is gearing up to face Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 275 this weekend. Their first bout turned out to be perhaps the greatest fight in women’s MMA history. Hence, this rematch has a lot of expectations going into it. It became even more significant as the UFC president Dana White revealed that the winner will get the next crack at Carla Esparza.
Nicknamed Magnum, Weili has been a very important figure for the UFC. She became a UFC champion in 2019 in her home country of China. In the process, she became the very first Chinese/Asian fighter to do so in the company’s history. Her measured but aggressive style of fighting captivated the fans and her humble nature made them fall in love with her.
That love also resulted in a lot of monetary gains as well. In what appears to be the biggest evidence of that, a report from BJPENN.COM states the insane amount of money that Chinese broadcaster PPTV made for her first title defence against Joanna in 2018 at UFC 248.
According to the report, PPTV paid a sum of $7 million to the UFC for the annual broadcasting rights. However, they made almost 8 times that amount. Apparently, the company earned an estimated amount of $57.5 million. It just goes to prove how Zhang has helped the UFC’s growth in the country.
How valuable is Zhang Weili to the UFC?
A report from South China Morning Post, Zhang Weili’s title defence over Joanna was the most talked over matter on TikTok which had around 400 million subscribers at the time. It also helped the UFC top 5.6 million subscribers in the country on the social media platform.
Zhang also saw massive growth in her personal fan followings as well. After the Joanna fight, she gained 1.2 million followers on Weibo in 2020, which is a Chinese platform. She also saw a bump of 500,000 followers on Instagram during the same period.
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In November of 2021, UFC’s Senior Vice President in Asia, Kevin Chang spoke on the rapid rise of the UFC in China. He named multiple local social media platforms where the UFC had seen an increase in following. During that interview with Forbes, he stated that the success was mainly driven by Zhang Weili’s rise to the top. UFC also opened the world’s largest MMA training facility, UFC Performance Institute Shanghai in the country.
Not only on the business side of things, but Zhang Weili has also massively impacted the youth of the country as well. Martial Art is a big part of Chinese culture and Zhang’s story has certainly inspired the young ones in the country to see fighting as a possible career option. Dana White spoke to CGTN regarding Zhang Weili and UFC’s rise in China. He said,
“(Zhang Weili) is our first Chinese world champion and to be honest with you, we couldn’t have a better first world champion than her. She’s been amazing, she’s incredibly talented, she’s got an amazing personality. I love everything about this girl. She’s got 8 and a half million followers in China. We’re the fastest-growing sport on the Chinese version of TikTok, everything has been great there.”
China is the biggest market in the world other than North America. Hence, a local hero such as Zhang Weili becomes an integral part of the company in their quest to spread the business even further in the country. Because of her, MMA training has seen a massive spike in the country. Hence, in some ways, she’s just as valuable to the UFC as Conor McGregor.