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Weili recently vacated her strawweight title and moved up to flyweight, where she will challenge Valentina Shevchenko for the title at UFC 322 on Nov. 15 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Many believe Zhang might eventually move back down to 115 pounds even if she beats Shevchenko.
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Dern considers Zhang’s move good for the strawweight division even if the former champ moves back down. While Dern complimented Zhang’s dominant title reign, she also thinks that it brought the division to a halt. Regardless of whether Zhang returns to 115 pounds, Dern believes the Chinese star’s move to flyweight will give other strawweights some time to prepare for her. Dern is also humble enough to acknowledge that she herself needs more preparation to fight “Magnum.”
Dern: Division Was on Pause
“She was just so dominant in the division,” Dern told Shakiel Mahjouri. “I think even just to mix things up and get the division kind of moving again. Even if she comes back down, I think the girls in the division will have more time, myself included, to kind of get just prepared and ready for her in a new way. Kind of renew the division a little bit. It was just kind of like on pause because she was so dominant. So I think it’s good for her to go up. I think her and Valentina is a fight that everyone wants to see.”
Zhang has defended her strawweight title four times over two separate reigns. Meanwhile, Dern will face a surging Virna Jandiroba for the vacant strawweight strap in the co-main event at UFC 321 on Saturday at Yas Island, Abu Dhabi. Dern is riding a two-fight winning streak and coming off a submission win over Amanda Ribas. Meanwhile, Jandiroba is riding a five-fight winning streak. “Carcara” suffered a unanimous decision loss against Dern in their first encounter in 2021.
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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