Weili Zhang explains how Chris Weidman’s leg injury factored into her performance against Rose Namajunas at UFC 261

Former UFC champion Weili Zhang explained how Chris Weidman’s leg injury factored into her performance against Rose Namajunas at UFC 261.

Zhang was starched with a high kick in the first round of her first UFC women’s strawweight title defense in the co-main event of UFC 261. It was a quick and brutal ending to Zhang’s short-lived reign as the champion, but according to “Magnum,” there are more reasons why she lost than just Namajunas being the better fighter that night. According to Zhang in a recent interview in the documentary “My Bronze Age,” she lost focus on her fight with Namajunas because, just two fights earlier, Weidman snapped his leg against Uriah Hall. According to the former champ, she couldn’t remain focused after that incident.

“The fighter in my previous fight, who was in the same waiting room as me (Weidman), his leg was snapped. I even touched gloves with him when he left for the fight, and I said ‘good luck’. I saw his leg snapped like that. I felt like my mind wasn’t completely focused on the match,” Zhang said (h/t South China Morning Post). “I wasn’t as focused. You can’t lose focus for even 0.01 seconds. No, no. It’s that cruel.”

Of course, seeing Weidman break his leg in such a devastating fashion couldn’t be easy for anyone to watch, so it definitely makes sense that Zhang was shaken up by the incident. Having said that, it feels like Zhang hasn’t given her opponent Namajunas enough credit for putting on such a great performance and landing an amazing kick. It will be interesting to see if “Thug” hears what Zhang says about the Weidman leg snap and what she thinks about these comments. The two are rumored to be rematching later this year, by the way.

What do you think about Weili Zhang suggesting part of the reason she lost to Rose Namajunas was due to losing focus after seeing Weidman get his leg snapped?