Sherdog’s Official Mixed Martial Arts Rankings - Trail Blazer
By: Tristen Critchfield Sep 2, 2019
The ordering process for Ultimate Fighting Championship
pay-per-views has changed: UFC 242 is only available on ESPN+ in the
U.S.
It only took 20 wins in a row to get there, but Weili Zhang
now sits atop the strawweight division.
Zhang become the first Chinese
Ultimate Fighting Championship ace in emphatic fashion at
UFC Fight Night 157, as she upset Jessica
Andrade with a furious salvo of punches, knees and elbows to
earn a stoppage just 42 seconds into their headlining contest in
Shenzhen, China this past Saturday. As a result, Zhang vaults from
seventh to first at 115 pounds and looks poised to be a key
component of the UFC’s future. Andrade, meanwhile, sees a four-bout
winning streak snapped and falls to second in our latest
strawweight rankings.
Elsewhere, Jingliang
Li enters the welterweight bubble after halting Elizeu
Zaleski dos Santos’ seven-fight winning streak with a late
third-round TKO in the UFC Shenzhen co-feature. “The Leech” seven
of his last eight promotional appearances dating back to July 2016.
Finally, surging flyweight Kai
Kara-France won his third straight in the Octagon — and eighth
in a row overall — by outpointing Mark De La
Rosa to establish himself as a person of interest in a suddenly
revived division. Kara-France maintains his position on our
125-pound bubble, but more significant challenges could await.
Weili "Magnum" Zhang
