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With the promotion not permitting champions to chase belts in other divisions without relinquishing their own first, strawweight queen Weili Zhang (26-3) had to give up her throne on Thursday. She did so because of her booking against Valentina Shevchenko (25-4-1), which will be for flyweight gold at UFC 322. The champions will be squaring off in the co-main event spot, as announced by the promotion, inside of Madison Square Garden in New York on Nov. 15.
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Fairly New Territory for Title Challenger Gaining 10 Pounds
This will not be the first time Zhang has competed at 125 pounds. In addition to a pair of catchweight contests at 132 pounds earlier in her career, she took on future UFC competitor Alice Ardelean in her flyweight debut in 2016. While she only stuck around to kick Liliya Kazak in the head a few months later, two second-round finishes proved she can hang at the weight. It will be Zhang’s first appearance at flyweight in her UFC tenure, as she is currently riding a run that includes reclaiming the strawweight throne in 2022 and defending it thrice.
Shevchenko is no stranger to taking on opponents from other divisions, lower or higher—“Bullet” used to compete at bantamweight, even battling all-time great Amanda Nunes twice to unsuccessful results. In September 2024, Shevchenko gained her flyweight belt back by beating rival Alexa Grasso across five one-sided rounds. That completed a trilogy where each woman celebrates a victory and they share a draw—a tetralogy a la Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Brandon Moreno remains on the table should Grasso get back into the title picture.
UFC 322 goes down on Nov. 15 at Madison Square Garden in New York, with the main attraction coming at 170 pounds as Jack Della Maddalena defends his throne against former lightweight champ Islam Makhachev. Other than bouts announced on Thursday, the only additional fight already official is a flyweight rematch between Erin Blanchfield and Tracy Cortez.
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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