Zhang Weili ended Joanna Jedrzejczyk’s career with the brutal spinning back fist knockout
A new angle has highlighted just how sickening Zhang Weili’s shocking KO of Joanna Jedrzejczyk in the Singapore Indoor Stadium at UFC 275 last weekend was.
The pair were running back their epic 2020 Fight of the Year clash for the strawweight title which Zhang Weili had won by a tight split decision.
As it wasn’t for the belt currently owned by Carla Esparza, their rematch was only scheduled for three rounds and not five this time around.
Leaving no doubt on this occasion, though, Weili delivered a sensational spinning back fist KO on Jedrzejczyk in the second round.
While original footage of the finish was shocking enough, an alternate angle shows how brutal Jedrzejczyk’s face-plant to the floor was before the referee stepped in to stop the action.
This angle of Weili's KO on Joanna 😬 pic.twitter.com/AS0KdhEolh
— Jason Williams (@jasoneg33) June 12, 2022
“My god…” a well-known MMA reporter and podcaster captioned it when sharing the clip on social media.
“Looks like a snuff film,” remarked a Twitter user, as another said that Jedrzejczyk was “out out”.
Post-fight, the Pole admitted she knew she was going to be in for a “really tough” night against Zhang and also knew her Chinese foe “was going to shoot”.
“But I didn’t expect that Weili was going to be that tough, that strong,” she additionally confessed.
Throwing her gloves down on the octagon floor following the loss, Jedrzejczyk announced her retirement while claiming she loves life “so much” and will join “DC’s league” in relation to former light heavyweight and heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier, who is now a pundit.
Later asked to describe her career in one word, the former strawweight champion who made five successful title defenses chose “legacy”.
“When you read about legacy, it means everything, you know? That you’ve done big things. So it’s legacy. And I always wanted to be remembered as one of the greatest, and I will [be],” she explained.
Jedrzejczyk then described herself as a “girl from the hood”. “And I did big things. Quite big. I have to sit and think about what I have [achieved],” she finished.
As for Zhang, she is in now line to challenge Esparza to recapture the title she once owned, and has already suggested Abu Dhabi as a potential venue while aware she will have to make improvements to her game to become champion again.
“I think there’s no weak fighter in the top rankings,” she stated at the weekend. “So if I’m fighting Carla, I need to improve my grappling, my BJJ, my wrestling. There’s nothing I need to specially care for. I just need to improve myself.
“MMA is over all sports, so I don’t think we can have any disadvantage, so I want to be a well-rounded fighter,” she concluded.
