China’s Zhang Weili has made a habit of defying the odds. The current Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) mixed martial arts star fought her way out of a hardscrabble life in the northern Chinese mining center of Handan to win the women’s strawweight division world title, then she lost it, and then she fought her way back to the top by winning it once again.
Along the way, the 35-year-old has become an icon in her homeland and beyond, with millions of fans drawn to her all-action…