UFC Champ Zhang Weili Ends Training Camp Early In Fear Of The Coronavirus

South China Morning Post- China’s first and only UFC champion Zhang Weili has opted to cut short her training camp in Beijing over fears of the new deadly coronavirus.

Zhang, who defends her strawweight belt for the first time against Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 248 in Las Vegas on March 8, had said she and her team would see our fight preparations in the Chinese capital. It would appear the outbreak, which since spread across China leaving 361 dead and over 17,000 confirmed (as of Monday afternoon) to have contracted it, is a risk not worth taking.

“The UFC has been working hard to expedite getting Weili and her team here for precautionary reasons,” said Zhang’s manager Brian Butler to MMA Fighting.

We've got pretty crazy news here outta China which now drags the mixed martial arts world into the all of the coronavirus headlines as of late - UFC Women's Strawweight Champion Zhang Weili (who is the first and only Chinese champion in company history) has ended her training camp for the Joanna Jedrzejczyk fight early, and plans on coming over here pretty much as soon as possible to get the fuck outta the way of the coronavirus. I don't think you can blame her, either. 

This coming just a week after Joanna posted a meme of her wearing a gas mask which highly upset the Strawweight Champ...

I've really been writing this blog to tell you about something that happened to me yesterday, though, so here we go... 

Right before the SuperBowl, Brandon Walker, Jared Carrabis, and I recorded a brand new episode of From The Top Rope. I think it turned out to be a pretty great podcast. We have a lot of chemistry together as a trio, and if you're into wrestling, I'd recommend you check it out - but I digress... 

As I'm leaving my apartment to come to the office, I get on the elevator (nbd that I have an elevator), and there's an old man already on there, who was headed down as well. He was pushing 80 and bundled up for a friggin bomb cyclone, but unlike me, this old fuck wasn't about to go outside. 

When I glanced at the buttons on the wall, I noticed he had only selected Floor 2. 

So I press L for Lobby, and he goes, "You should be careful with those buttons!"

I kinda laughed and responded, "Oh yeah, why's that?", and before I could even finish, he goes, "The Coronavirus".

Still, I didn't know if he were kidding or not, but I just politely said, "You're right!", and figured I was done with this uncomfortable interaction.

Narrator: He wasn't done with this uncomfortable interaction.

We arrive at my elderly new friend's final stop - Floor 2 - and as he gets off, he turns to me and goes: "There's Chinese people on my floor, son. That's what I'm trying to get at here."

I audibly gasped. 

I know the haters will say this story is fake, and unfortunately I have no way of proving it's real, but my god if it wasn't the craziest shit ever to me. Just hearing an oldie let loose like that is wild. 

Anyway, best of luck to Zhang Weili!