Thread by @9h6st21

Zhang Weili’s actual scouting report thread

The first thing they looked at was lemos overacts when you show her bollocks punches

The way they prepped for this was to throw a bunch of double jabs

Lemos despite being a great power hitter she has a habit of bringing her hands to load the strike. And was content to play bottom position.

One of the concerns from Cai (Weili’s head coach) was her propensity to eat right hands. And lemos has a strong right hand. (Credit to @DanTomMMA for providing this footage)

@DanTomMMA To combat the right hand. Weili needed to use a lot of false entries to make the counter puncher hesitate and react

@DanTomMMA One of Lemos biggest tendency is to sit down and look to counter when a right hand is thrown at her

@DanTomMMA Another big habit is to switch to southpaw when a low kick is thrown at lemos. So Weili’s weird side kick and right body kick were big weapons

@DanTomMMA One of lemos best weapons was the southpaw left body kick and Weili in the first Joanna fight had trouble in that stance (part 1)

@DanTomMMA Homage to @DanTomMMA southpaw report. Weili was completely confused when Joanna went southpaw in thier first fight

@DanTomMMA Answer 1 when opponent goes to southpaw:

Open side kick catch

@DanTomMMA Answer 2: right kick the body right away

@DanTomMMA Answer 3 off rhythm attack

@DanTomMMA Answer 4 did not show up. It was to enter the clinch off the rear hand

Lemos tendency of switching to southpaw then moving forward into was also a habit that team Weili looked to exploit

Lemos switching to southpaw then moving forward into an orthodox stance part 2

The way to punish this was to use a fake, pause and attack (from a @JackSlackMMA article before the first Rob whittiker fight)

Another way of punishing the southpaw step back and step forward

The third way to punish this habit is the step up left high kick

The last way to punish this but didn’t show up was the Saenchai question mark kick that Weili learned in 2020 shoutout to @LawrenceKenshin Saenchai course

@LawrenceKenshin Another shout to Kenshin question mark kick breakdown from his course

@LawrenceKenshin I thought this would be a great kick against Lemos even Weili didn’t knock her out she good at least keep Lemos rear hand at home

One of lemos tendencies was to shift her weight to the front foot and throw her jab. And she takes a huge ass step that can be timed

And it’s the same habit she practices on her pad work

Same habits in training as in the fight
(Big Telegraph and big step)

Using the correct distance or pushing lemos to the fence allows Weili to read this

Lemos jab can be dangerous if you don’t understand the rhythm and the shift in weight

Even Waterson was able to hit Lemos clean with a pull right hand. and Weili has seen this exact sequence in Joanna 1

My personal favorite counter for the jab is the right low kick which Weili times nicely post Namajunas 2 fight

Another option Weili studied was the cross counter to left high kick

Using the double jab to set up takedowns

More training habits from Amanda lemos that shows up in all her fights
@DrakeRiggs_ (rare positive tweet by me due to Weili’s blessing of releasing this)

One of my biggest hurdles was to convince team Weili that the double jab is the best weapon in mma. Which is what this title translates to

One of the things Josh Hinger and John Wood emphasized was to grapple and wrestle early. (Some behind the scenes footage) part 1

More of Weili’s behind the scenes training. Weili and Josh working crucifix sequences

Weili’s cradle and front headlock work. Again thank you for Weili’s blessing for releasing his footage

Lemos answer to double jabbing and fakes is to move straight back

Emphasizing the importance of the double jab

A fight Weili studied closely in this fight and use of the double jab was Moreano vs figgy 2 as figgy has the same defensive habits as Lemos

More double jabs and figgy showing Lemos defensive habits

One of the other fights Weili studied was the Hunt vs Lewis fight were Lemos is in the Derrick Lewis role
Translation: double jab is the best weapon in mma

Team Weili also bought a bunch of instructionals on the double jab and how to throw it

More double jab ideas team Weili was looking at

Double jabbing to exit the pocket

This Haggerty idea showed up during the fifth round right before the knockdown

@DanTomMMA Countering Lemos stance switch more ideas

In addition to the double jab, Weili also worked on faking the right hand
To create opportunities for her lead and and keep lemos off balanced

Clinching Amanda Lemos was an important strategy in this fight

Weili using the double jab into step up low kick

Positions of striking that Weili has studied and continually trying to understand

The idea of defending weight transitions

Defending weight transitions part 2

Actual sparring footage of Weili in Thailand, never before released to the public. Demonstrating weight transition defense

I keep bringing up this clip to her team since Weili accidentally defends the weight transition to the front foot when she fought Joanna

Right hand control. One of the things Weili was open about was learning from Rose Namajuanas and taking some of her ideas

Right hand control by Rose that Weili has picked up

More ideas taken from Rose. Show the double jab on the exit

Weili using the right hand as a control tool to back Esparza up

Something I told Weili in person. The fighter she should be emulating is Volkanovski

One of Weili’s biggest habits is to step up inside low kick and she needed to learn to use the step up as a feint to maximize her best weapon.

The idea of using step up feints was important in this fight to draw out Lemos right hand

Another important idea in this fight was entering the clinch after throwing the right hand

Important for this fight was having ideas to counter the front kick

Countering the front kick

Nonito donaire teaching Zhang Weili
His left hook analysis

The most important stratigic idea in this fight was to have Weili wrestle and grapple as soon as possible

Easy clinch entry opportunities

Unorthodox strikes she had to be prepared for

Grappling tendencies of lemos that were exploited

The purpose of this thread is to show people hat Weili prepares specifically to her opponent not just being an athletic freak

Massive credit to the man who has shaped Weili’s jiu jitsu game
Adcc bronze medalist Josh Hinger

Something very important that is a theme in Weili’s camp.

She knows no one is unstoppable not even herself. Every fighter no matter how good has exploitable habits.

Another purpose of this thread.
To show absolute muppets like @swanehume that Weili isn’t just an athlete but prepares specifically for her opponent

Position in the cage was important for this fight. And pushing lemos to the fence with double jabs, side kicks and fake teeps was very important

Lemos clinch training habits

Here’s the thing Team Weili will admit that Lemos is the better fighter on paper. Weili’s job is just to capitalize on errors and fill empty space. “Like water”

And yes Weili has a lot of exploitable habits that I look at and remind her of through sparring vids that I won’t be posting.

But the team also understands that Weili’s own exploitable habits can be used to play with the opponents expectations

@HeftyTres Just fwi, this is the distance Weili tries to operate at.

@MikesMMAPicks lemos over committing like you mentioned. But this is how future fighters need to exploit it

Would that make Weili’s team the C-team?

Credit to @BlaineHenryTFL for creating the animation. And yes Team Weili did study this. They were wondering how I made it and I just said it’s a famous gif