Zhang Weili and Joanna Jedrzejczyk have nothing but love for each other.
Past rivals who competed in a pair of memorable bouts at UFC 248 and UFC 275, Zhang and Jedrzejczyk recently met up and they shared a brief video of the reunion in which they showered each other with respect.
Watch the clip below.
“We are each other’s opponent in the octagon, we all want to chase our dreams to win the fight, but outside of the octagon we are friends,” Zhang said in Mandarin. “We can have dinner together, we can talk to each other, we can be really good friends. So I am really happy about it. ‘JJ’ is always a legend in my heart, she is always the champion. I want to learn from her.”
Both fighters are locks to make the UFC Hall of Fame someday, perhaps twice-over as their UFC 248 clash is also likely to be inducted into the Fight Wing. In the first meeting between the two, Zhang successfully defended her strawweight title against Jedrzejczyk in a five-round slugfest that would go on to win MMA Fighting’s 2020 Fight of the Year award.
Zhang and Jedrzejczyk met in a rematch at UFC 275, where Zhang defeated Jedrzejczyk via knockout with a spectacular spinning backfist. That ended up being the final fight for Jedrzejczyk—a former champion who successfully defended the 115-pound title five straight times—as she retired from competition following that loss.
For her part, there don’t seem to be any hard feelings.
“Remember, I think like we are athletes, but we’re humans,” Jedrzejczyk said. “Today we’re the champ, tomorrow we are not, but we’re always going to be humans so this is what’s more important. What we can give for free is love and smile to each other, that’s the most important thing. One day we can beat the hell out of each other and the next day we can have dinner.”
Up next for Zhang, she looks to add another title defense in her second reign as strawweight champion when she fights fellow Chinese standout Yan Xiaonan at UFC 300 on April 13 in Las Vegas.