Zhang Weili confidently outpointed Tatiana Suarez at UFC 312

Zhang Weili confidently outpointed and dominated Tatiana Suarez at UFC 312, the champion thus defended her championship belt.

Zhang Weili and Tatiana Suarez faced each other in the second fight of the evening at the UFC 312 gala in Sydney. At stake in the ladies’ bout was the UFC championship belt in the strawweight division. The title clash was contracted for five rounds.

Zhang Weili is one of the best female fighters in the history of the strawweight division. The Chinese woman has won every single fight in the best MMA division in the world except against Rose Namajunas. Tatiana Suarez has dreamed of fighting for the title for years, but time and time again, injuries have hindered her from spreading her wings. Who was the top contender at UFC 312, the reigning champion or the undefeated contender?

In the first three rounds, the fighters were in a fairly even contest with an indication in favor of Weili. In the first round it was Tatiana Suarez who looked great, spending most of the time controlling the champion on the ground.

Nonetheless, the Chinese woman claimed two of the three rounds on the judges’ scorecards and thrived as the clash went on, scoring the contender with hard punches in the standup. After starting the championship rounds in the fourth round, Zhang moved the fight to the mat where she locked up a choke, but the American was able to defend herself. Weili kept the duel on the mat until the end of the fourth round.

Before the fifth round, the situation was clear Tatiana Suarez needed a finish before time to take the title from the Chinese. Zhang, however, did not allow herself to be overturned and continued to work hard with straights in the distance and elbow attacks in close quarters. In the final round, Weili first excused herself and then moved the fight to the mat where she controlled and smashed the contender almost to the end of the round.

In the end, Zhang Weili defeated Tatiana Suarez after a unanimous decision by the judges, and thus defended the strawweight category championship belt. It seems that the Chinese representative has cleared the division and will soon move to a category higher up.