Zhang Weili, China's first and only Ultimate Fighting Championship title-holder, will defend her strawweight crown against Lithuanian-American Rose Namajunas on April 24.
They will clash at UFC 261 on the same card as the women's flyweight title match between champion Valentina Shevchenko and Jess ica Andrade. The venue has not been confirmed.
The 31-year-old Zhang, who is spearheading China's rise in UFC, has a 21-1 win-loss mixed martial arts record. UFC president Dana White has touted her to rank alongside Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey as a global superstar of the sport.
She successfully defended her title against Poland's Joanna Jedrzejczyk in March last year in Las Vegas in a brutal dust-up, but then found herself stranded in America for six weeks because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Such is the excitement surrounding Zhang's rise in China that she is being mentioned in the same breath as former NBA star Yao Ming.
"I am not Yao Ming or anyone else," she said. "I just want to be a better me."
Namajunas, nicknamed "Thug", has a 10-4 record and is a former strawweight champion. The 28-year-old is ranked fourth in the UFC's women's pound-for-pound rankings. Zhang is third.
Strawweight champ Zhang Weili is spearheading China's rise in UFC. AP
