Zhang Weili maintained her place atop the strawweight division with a masterful performance against Amanda Lemos.
Over 25 minutes, Weili (24-3 MMA, 8-2 UFC) proved too much for the challenger Lemos (13-3-1 MMA, 7-3 UFC) to handle. The women’s strawweight title bout was the UFC 292 co-main event at TD Garden in Boston. When it was all said and done, the dominant display on the feet and on the mat from Weili resulted in scores of 50-43, 50-44 and 49-45.
There was a big moment early as Weili caught the first kick attempt from Lemos, and put the challenger on her back. Weili focused on maintaining top control initially, but found space for punches and short elbows after Lemos scooted over to the cage. Lemos got to a seated position and ate a few more strikes.
Out of nowhere, Lemos slapped on a tight D’Arce choke. Weili appeared to struggle with the submission for a moment, but worked her way out, and got back to landing ground and pound, this time with more power. The referee asked Lemos to fight back, and she was able to do just enough to survive.
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Heavy strikes were offered at the start of Round 2, but Weili brought the fight back to the mat with a clean takedown. The champion racked up more top control time before taking Lemos’ back after a scramble. Lemos escaped and got up to her feet momentarily, but was then dragged back down. Weili ended the round on Lemos’ back against the fence.
After trading a few punches and kicks to start the third, Weili decided it was time to bring the fight back to the canvas again. This time, she took Lemos’ back, but was unable to lock in a submission. With just over a minute to go, the fight returned to the feet in the clinch, where Weili landed some nice short strikes. Lemos appeared fatigued as the closing seconds ticked off the clock.
A majority of the fourth round was spent on the feet with intermittent striking exchanges. Lemos made things interesting by stinging Weili with a clean punch, and threatening another D’Arce after being taken down.
Weili cracked Lemos with a hard right hand early in the final round. Lemos fell to the canvas and had to deal with a swarm of follow-up punches. Lemos attacked a leglock, but Weili stayed heavy to escape. From there, the champion was able to keep the challenger on the defensive for the remainder of the fight.
According to UFC Stats, the striking differential was incredibly wide, with Weili landing 163 significant strikes to Lemos’ 24.
The victory marks the first title defense of Weili’s second strawweight title reign. “Magnum” reclaimed the throne by submitting Carla Esparza at UFC 281 last November.
Lemos entered as a winner of seven of nine UFC bouts, including back-to-back stoppages of Michelle Waterson-Gomez and Marina Rodriguez.
Up-to-the-minute UFC 292 results include:
- Zhang Weili def. Amanda Lemos via unanimous decision (50-43, 50-44, 49-45)
- Ian Machado Garry def. Neil Magny via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-24)
- Mario Bautista def. Da’Mon Blackshear via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
- Marlon Vera def. Pedro Munhoz via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Brad Tavares def. Chris Weidman via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Gregory Rodrigues def. Denis Tiuliulin via knockout (elbows) – Round 1, 1:43
- Kurt Holobaugh def. Austin Hubbard via submission (triangle choke) – Round 2, 2:39 – to win “TUF 31” lightweight season
- Brad Katona def. Cody Gibson via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27) – to win “TUF 31” bantamweight season
- Andre Petroski def. Gerald Meerschaert via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Natalia Silva def. Andrea Lee via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Karine Silva def. Maryna Moroz via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 1, 4:59
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 292.
