Conor McGregor has shared his thoughts about the thrilling encounter between Weili Zhang and Joanna Jedrzejczyk last Saturday.
Zhang, who is the first Chinese and East Asian champion in the promotion’s history, put her strawweight title on the line against Jedrzejczyk in the co-main event of UFC 248 fight card at the T-mobile Arena.
The co-main event stars fought like there’s no tomorrow and delivered an epic five-round contest that is being dubbed as the greatest fight in MMA history.
After an all-out war, one judge had it 48-47 for Jedrzejczyk while the remaining two scored the same tally for Zhang, giving the Chinese a split decision win to retain the 115-pound championship.
The Polish challenger, who held the strawweight belt from 2015 to 2017, did not question the outcome and gave the credit to Zhang for a ‘great job.’
“She did a great job. I felt her punches. The swelling was bothering me. I felt it more and more, but we’re good. Congrats, champ. I’m very happy we gave a good fight,” she said, (per ESPN).
Happy Women’s Day everyone.
What a fight this was.#IWD2020 #WomansDay #UFC249 #weilizhang #JoannaVsZhang pic.twitter.com/LFJoohpcQp— Ranju Dodum (@RanjuDodum) March 8, 2020
Wrong Decision
But if ‘The Notorious’ were to ask, he thinks the win should have gone the former strawweight champion’s way.
In a tweet after UFC 248, McGregor wrote: “Amazing contest! Wrong decision.”
McGregor also believes Jedrzejczyk landed the more accurate and more damaging shots compared to the defending champ.
“More active. More accurate. More damaging shot landed. What more do you need? Amazing fight! Zhang is absolutely tremendous! But Joanna is champion to my eyes.”
Amazing contest! Wrong decision. https://t.co/1o0o9cLHUz
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) March 8, 2020
More active. More accurate. More damaging shots landed. What more do you need? Amazing fight! Zhang is absolutely tremendous! But Joanna is champion in my eyes.
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) March 8, 2020
Still A Champ
Aside from McGregor, Valentina Shevchenko, who is the current women’s flyweight champion and a former opponent of Jedrzejczyk, also disagreed with the scorecards.
The Polish fighter has been winless in the last four title fights as she was also defeated by Shevchenko and Rose Namajunas (twice) prior to UFC 248.
Jedrzejczyk falls to 10-4 in the UFC, following the defeat, while Zhang remains undefeated in her UFC career with a 5-0 win-loss record and 21-1 overall.
“I carry myself as a champ, with the belt or without,” Jedrzejczyk told Joe Rogan in the cage after the epic war.
Joanna Jedrzejczyk looks totally unrecognisable after all-time great UFC fight vs Weili Zhang https://t.co/h8tk2v4lRv pic.twitter.com/q2UtwcmAPZ
— ʇsǝɟ_ן!ʌǝ (@evil_fest) March 8, 2020
(Featured Image Source: Twitter/ UFC and Instagram/ Conor McGregor)