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Previewing Rose Namajunas vs. Zhang Weili 2

By Zach Goldrosen (@goldjaboytellem) and Ron King III (@grapplerronny)

While their first fight did not go so well for Zhang Weili, she has a new ace up her sleeve for her rematch against Rose Namajunas for the UFC Strawweight Championship, and that's Henry Cejudo. The former two-division champion and Olympic gold medalist has been working with Zhang for this fight, and he's not alone: Zhang is also training with Cejudo's head coach Eric Albarracin, World bronze medalist wrestler Forrest Molinari, and US national wrestling team member Victoria Anthony.

Seeing so many wrestlers in her camp suggests that she will be taking a different approach as she tries to reclaim her title, namely wrestling.

Zhang Weili hasn't wrestled much in her last few fights but has shown competence in the past with clinch takedowns. The throws and trips she uses from the clinch are simple, effective, and can land her in half guard—sometimes even in side control. Having takedowns that give Zhang a chance to avoid full guard is helpful because Namajunas is good at getting back to her feet from full guard.

Zhang has continued to work on these kinds of takedowns in this camp, including a hip toss that Jessica Andrade successfully used to take down Namajunas.

From top, Zhang is patient and does a good job of maintaining control from half guard and side control while raining down elbows to win rounds and open her opponent up for mount.

Though Zhang is known more for her striking, she submitted BJJ brown belt Jessica Aguilar in a slick sequence from mount where she first caught her in a triangle choke then transitioned to an armbar as Aguilar defended the choke.

Even if Namajunas manages to escape from the bottom, making her constantly get up can force her to expend energy in the process and make her warier of takedowns. This could then open up striking opportunities for Zhang.

From the footage that's available from her camp, it doesn't look like Zhang is changing much up with her striking. However, more wrestling can complement her existing striking and can open up opportunities to smother Namajunas in the clinch as Andrade did.

Speaking of which, Andrade may have left the blueprint for beating Namajunas. Andrade took Namajunas down multiple times across their two fights by pressuring her to the fence, closing the distance, and scoring clinch takedowns against the fence where Namajunas couldn't circle out and re-establish distance. The only other time Namajunas has had to deal with more than two takedown attempts in a fight was in 2014 against Carla Esparza. Esparza scored five takedowns in three rounds, mostly with simple double legs from a mile away. Then won the fight with a rear-naked choke in the first-ever UFC Strawweight Championship fight.

While this was seven years ago, Namajunas has had little incentive to improve her wrestling because of the relative lack of wrestlers in WMMA.

One last variable that's worth mentioning is the psychological aspect. Zhang has mentioned how the hostile Florida crowd affected her mentally. In addition, Namajunas invoking American anticommunism definitely contributed to Zhang receiving the most negative response in her career.

Given that the rematch will be in New York, we can't rule out the possibility that the crowd might still designate Zhang as the "foreign heel." Is Zhang better prepared for the anticommunist and anti-Chinese vitriol from what will likely be another pro-US crowd? We won't know until after the fight, but if Zhang Weili fights the kind of fight we expect her to, then this is a very winnable rematch for the former champion.