Weili Zhang prepared to fight fearlessly against Carla Esparaza at UFC 281: “I don’t care about win or lose anymore”

UFC women’s strawweight contender Weili Zhang is prepared for her fight with Carla Esparza.

‘Magnum’ has been out of action since June. At UFC 275, Zhang faced Joanna Jędrzejczyk in a rematch of their famous brawl in March 2020. In that outing, the Chinese fighter won by split decision after five rounds of pure chaos.

While the first outing was a ‘Fight of the Year’ contender, the second was anything but. After taking Jędrzejczyk down in the first round, Zhang put the former champion out cold in the second. With that, she secured a title shot against the newly crowned champion, Carla Esparza.

The two are set to face off at UFC 281 in November at the legendary Madison Square Garden venue in New York City. The fight will be a return to the arena for Zhang. Last November, she faced Rose Namajunas in New York City and came up short by decision.

This time, Weili Zhang is prepared to make sure that doesn’t happen. In an interview with SHINE News, the 33-year-old previewed her fight with Carla Esparza. The former champion was quick to credit ‘Cookie Monster’ for her title run, and career rebound.

However, the Chinese fighter also stated that she’s coming into UFC 281 with a different attitude. The last time she fought for the title against ‘Thug Rose’, Zhang believes she was too passive, and that cost her the belt. In her matchup with Esparza, that won’t be the case.

“Carla is a respectable rival. Her up-and-down experience is very inspiring and gives me power to keep going on… All the past, all is overture. I won’t make the same mistakes this time. Now I don’t care about win or lose anymore. Carla will be the first wrestler I met, so I am very interested in the progress of exchanging all we got in the arsenal. My goal is to dominate the show.” (h/t SHINE News)

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