(Photo: IC)
SHENZHEN, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Zhang Weili knocked out Brazilian Jessica Andrade after just 42 seconds of the first round to claim the UFC World Strawweight Championship, here in Shenzhen at the Shenzhen Universiade arena.
Zhang entered the fight as the underdog to the Brazilian, however, after a flurry of devastating knees, elbows and punches the Chinese fighter walked away with the TKO and as China's first-ever UFC World Champion.
Both fighters came out at the start swinging hard, and after 15 seconds Zhang was caught with a stiff left and looked shaky on her feet for a moment, yet she fought back almost immediately with a swift right.
Following the comeback right, Zhang got Andrade in the clinch and landed several clinical elbows side of the head, rocking Andrade. Zhang transitioned in the clinch to nail Andrade with four destructive knees to the face.
After the knees, Andrade crashed to the fall and was caught with a single, finishing blow to the temple before the referee stepped in to save Andrade from further damage, thus handing the TKO victory to Zhang.
Elsewhere in the co-main event the huge underdog and unranked Li Jingliang from Xinjiang, China managed to grab a last-minute knockout in the final round over the 13th ranked welterweight Elizeu Dos Santos to secure a shock victory.
The fighters, both aggressive strikers, had been expected to a slugfest, however, fans were treated to an engrossing fight with both athletes wary of each other's striking power.
Li, despite entering the bout with a two and a half-inch reach disadvantage fought intelligently on the outside judging Dos Santos's range perfectly.
The Chinese fighter caused his opponent issues throughout the contest with his speed at slipping the Brazilian's jabs and straights to close the distance and land convincing shots on Dos Santos.
During the second round, Dos Santos tried to nullify Li's speed by executing a number of well-placed, awkward kicks that caused Li some problems in the moments he entered Dos Santos's zone of control.
However, in the third, Li was able to avoid the kicks and keep the fight at range early in the round. Dos Santos, on the other hand, opened up at the end of the round looking for the knockout as he was down on the scorecards.
Yet, in the openness, the South American left himself open and Li was able to counter with a huge right to rock Dos Santos and get the finish.
In the post-fight press conference, President Dana White told Xinhua that Li "looked ready" for top-ranked fighters in the division.
According to Dana White, "China had a good night" with most of the Chinese fighters upsetting the odds to win their bouts with Song Kenan pulling off an upset win against the heavily fancied American Derrick Krantz, while Sumudaerji from Sichuan province beat Laos' Andre Soukhamthath. Earlier in the night, Alatengheili from Inner Mongolia defeated Danaa Batgeral from Mongolia in an exciting clash.
Elsewhere on the card, there were victories for Kai Kara-France, Mizuki Inoue and Anthony Hernandez.