Weili Zhang has US visa approved

UFC women’s strawweight champion Weili Zhang has finally had her US visa approved, paving the way for her next fight to be in the United States.

It was recently revealed that Zhang was having issued acquiring a US visa due to the recent conflicts in China. It looked like Zhang was going to have issues getting a visa, but according to Damon Martin of MMAFighting.com, that won’t be a hurdle any longer.

The veteran MMA journalist shared the good news on his Twitter, tagging Zhang’s management at Sucker Punch Entertainment in the Tweet.

UPDATE: UFC champ Weili Zhang had her visa approved and she will be able to travel to the United States.

CC. @TulsiGabbard @SuckerPunchEnt https://t.co/fNnHFOvyor

— Damon Martin (@DamonMartin) October 11, 2019

“UPDATE: UFC champ Weili Zhang had her visa approved and she will be able to travel to the United States.”

This is obviously fantastic news for Zhang and her team, her fans, and for the UFC, who will now be able to freely book her in a fight in the United States. UFC president Dana White said the goal was to get Zhang on a card in the US after she knocked out Jessica Andrade in devastating fashion in the summer to become the new UFC women’s strawweight champion. The win improved Zhang to 20-1 overall in her MMA career.

The timing of the news is also great because this weekend at UFC Tampa features a main event between former champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Michelle Waterson that could very well see the winner become the new No. 1 contender. Jedrzejczyk said this week she was open to fighting Zhang somewhere in Europe if she was having visa issues, but now that the UFC can book Zhang to fight in the US, a fight in Las Vegas seems very likely.

Other than the winner of Jedrzejczyk and Waterson, Tatiana Suarez also has a good argument to getting a title shot. Now that the hurdle of having Zhang fight in the US is out of the way, expect the UFC to announce her next title fight in the next few weeks.

Who do you want to see Weili Zhang fight in her first UFC women’s strawweight title defense?