{"id":76,"date":"2025-05-23T06:13:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-22T22:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/84news.top\/index.php\/2025\/05\/23\/ufc-champ-zhang-says-acting-experiment-and-fighting-not-so-different\/"},"modified":"2025-05-23T06:13:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T22:13:10","slug":"ufc-champ-zhang-says-acting-experiment-and-fighting-not-so-different","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cloudfclub.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/23\/ufc-champ-zhang-says-acting-experiment-and-fighting-not-so-different\/","title":{"rendered":"UFC champ Zhang says acting 'experiment' and fighting not so different"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Zhang co-stars as a fisherwoman with mutism in After Typhoon, a feminist indie film exploring themes of sexual assault and friendship by award-winning director Li Yu. <\/p>\n

On the surface it’s an unexpected twist for the first Chinese mixed martial arts fighter to win a UFC title and the current strawweight champion, who first claimed her crown by knocking out her opponent in 42 seconds. <\/p>\n

“It’s not really a career transition, I see it more as an experiment,” the 35-year-old told AFP in Shanghai. <\/p>\n

“I believe everything is connected in some way and there’s actually a lot in common between fighting and acting… I find it really interesting — a fresh experience.” <\/p>\n

Zhang told the Hollywood Reporter that she was initially against the idea of being in a film, but was compelled by the character of A Xi. <\/p>\n

Because she cannot speak, “I had to express emotions through eye contact and body language”, Zhang told AFP. <\/p>\n

This is where her fighting experience came in useful because it has helped her “develop a richer physical language”, she said. <\/p>\n

Li, the director, has said Zhang’s performance, especially as a first-time actress, was “truly astonishing”. <\/p>\n

“Her authenticity was bone-deep. It wasn’t performance — she was living as that person,” she told a post-screening session at an offshoot of the Beijing International Film Festival.<\/p>\n

The movie was initially scheduled for wider release in April but has been postponed. <\/p>\n

Zhang suggested it might be released over the summer.<\/p>\n

The MMA star, who received the script at the same time she was preparing for a title defence, has taken some lessons from her time on set back to the octagon. <\/p>\n

“When the director would call ‘cut’ and say we had to do another take, and then another, that taught me patience,” she laughed. <\/p>\n

Previously, when told by the coach to do another set of exercises in training, “I’d be really frustrated”. <\/p>\n

“But now, after five rounds, if the coach says, ‘extra elbow and knee practices’, I just say, ‘Okay, sure!'” <\/p>\n

\u00a9 2025 AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shanghai (AFP) \u2013 <\/span> China’s UFC champion Zhang Weili said her recent foray into art-house cinema has been “really interesting” and thinks MMA and acting have more in common than one might expect. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Issued on: 23\/05\/2025 – 08:13<\/span>Modified: 23\/05\/2025 – 08:10<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/span> 1 min Reading time<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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\"China's<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":75,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3],"class_list":["post-76","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cloudfclub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cloudfclub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cloudfclub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloudfclub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloudfclub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cloudfclub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloudfclub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cloudfclub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloudfclub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloudfclub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}