Dana White open to Zhang Weili, Valentina Shevchenko super fight after UFC 312: ‘I’m probably gonna say ‘Yes”
UFC CEO, Dana White admits his hand may be twisted finally on a flyweight super fight between Zhang Weili and Valentina Shevchenko next — particularly following the strawweight queen’s dominant title fight defense in the co-headliner of UFC 312 tonight.
Weili, the current undisputed strawweight champion, successfully racked up her third defense of the 115lbs crown tonight as part of her second title reign — handing challenger, Tatiana Suarez her first-ever loss in a rather one-sided outing for the strawweight belt.
With the win, Hebei native, Weili added to her ever-growing dominance as strawweight titleholder, following a prior pair of decision shutouts against challengers, Yan Xiaonan, and Amanda Lemos.
And ahead of tonight’s fight with Suarez, Chinese star, Weili admitted she was lining up a super fight against incumbent flyweight best, Shevchenko before her booking at UFC 312, ultimately to no avail.
“This is a very long story, actually,” Zhang Weili told. “I wanted to fight more, but because what UFC have arranged for me, and also depending on my potential opponent, whether they want to fight me, when they want to fight me, so that’s why I only have fought one time last year because it’s out of my control.
“I work, I was thinking about another fight last year, but there’s so many changes that yes, I didn’t fight,” Zhang Weili explained. “That’s why I was in the Sphere in Vegas watching the fight between [Alexa] Grasso and Valentina [Shevchenko]. I was thinking about fighting another fight, but didn’t happen.”
Dana White welcomes Zhang Weili, Valentina Shevchenko super fight
However, following her victory tonight against Suarez, Weili may get her wish in the form of a flyweight title super fight against Shevchenko — with White claiming he would likely say yes to any matchmaking efforts from the current strawweight queen.
Whatever she has to ask me, I’m probably going to say yes,” Dana White told assembled media of a potential Zhang Weili campaign for a super fight with Valentina Shevchenko after UFC 312.
