Former UFC strawweight world champion Zhang Weili has just been promoted to black belt in BJJ at the Gracie Barra Academy in Shunyi, China. Weili has had a long road to get to this point, having been practicing various martial arts for almost her entire life. She first started with Shaolin Kung Fu when she was just 6 years old, before moving on to both Sanda and Shuai Jiao. Although she spent her entire time working on her striking at that point, she eventually discovered BJJ in 2012 and started training in the sport in order to make the transition to MMA.
Weili might have lost her first professional MMA fight in 2013 but she quickly acclimatised to the sport and went on an incredible run. She competed on the regional MMA circuit all around Asia over the next 4 years and won 16 fights in a row, finishing all but one of them and earning the opportunity to compete in the UFC. Her run didn’t stop there though, as she reeled off another 5 wins and became the UFC strawweight world champion in the process. Weili has since lost the title and won it for the second time, before vacating it earlier this year in an attempt to win the flyweight title too.
Weili now holds a 26-4 professional record with 19 finishes and her grappling has improved so much since the beginning of her career that she now has 8 submission wins to her name. She’s beaten a number of BJJ black belts over the past decade, and even submitted elite wrestler Carla Esparza too. This recent promotion to black belt is a recognition of her incredible performances in the cage and the tireless efforts on the mats that have led to those moments. After 13 years training in Jiu-Jitsu and almost 30 years as a martial artist, Weili has now reached the top of the mountain.
Zhang Weili announced the news that she had been promoted to black belt in BJJ in a recent post to her official Instagram account:
