It’s hard to overstate. It wasn’t just a fight, nor was it just a victory; when the bell rung and China’s Zhang Weili had her hand raised at the Shenzhen Universiade Stadium in Shenzhen, south China, the once-sixth ranked UFC strawweight fighter hadn’t simply won the title, she crowned a new era for mixed martial arts (MMA).

Each one can be tracked by an image which turned a fighter into a superstar. The first was Royce Gracie demonstrating his family’s martial arts system with a rear naked choke on “The World’s Most Dangerous Man” Ken Shamrock at UFC 1 in 1993 and later, in 2005, the sight of Stephan Bonnar and a bloodied Forrest Griffin following their three round war not only kept the struggling league alive, it boosted it to a level of popularity never seen before. Since then, there’s been Georges St-Pierre’s TKO headkick against Matt Hughes, Ronda Rousey’s armbar on Liz Carmouche and Conor McGregor’s 13-second, one punch KO of Jose Aldo to win the UFC Featherweight Championship, to name a few.

Each of these set a new standard for their respective division, and Zhang did just that by beating Jessica Andrade for the title of the immensely tough strawweight division. Only, what makes her different is that her moment wasn’t a “moment” exactly; it was an entire fight. Unbeaten for 19 fights, she made it 20 in a brisk 42 seconds.

Brazil’s Andrade, who has fought like a war machine since dropping down from bantam to strawweight in 2016, began, as always, by walking Zhang down and trying to set her own aggressive tempo. After landing a strike or two, the women get into a clinch and from here Zhang unleashes a series of elbows direct to the temple followed by knees to the stomach; as Andrade backs away, Zhang turns the tables and knocks her down with punches before finishing the champion off on the ground.

When seen again in normal speed, slow motion, from a series of different angles, it becomes clear that Zhang performed at such an impossibly high level that a singular moment couldn’t be created. Her elbows are too precise to be overshadowed by her powerful knees, the clinch is so tight that it gives her about as much control as her snapping leg kicks, the sound of which could be heard all around the stadium.

It’s almost hilarious to consider that merely half an hour earlier at the event, Li Jingliang etched his own name into combat sports history by beating Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos by TKO in the final round of their fight to become the first ever ranked male Chinese UFC fighter.

At the end of her post-fight interview with UFC Hall of Famer Michael Bisping, Zhang has this to say: "My name is Zhang Weili. I am from China. Remember me." It can only be assumed that in the heat of the moment, the humble fighter from Hebei Province hadn't realized that she was already impossible to forget.

(All photos by Brandon Magnus, Zuffa LLC)