30-year-old Chinese mixed martial art (MMA) fighter Zhang Weili has enjoyed a life-changing 10 months.

Last August she thrilled a home crowd in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province with an upset knockout of UFC women's strawweight champion Jessica Andrade of Brazil in just 42 seconds. In doing so, she made history by becoming China's first ever UFC champion.

Zhang then successfully defended the title in a brutal dust-up in Las Vegas in early March against Poland's Joanna Jedrzejczyk, despite her build-up being badly disrupted by the coronavirus outbreak.

She boasts a 21-1 MMA record - undefeated since the loss in her first fight - and UFC president Dana White has touted her alongside Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey as a global superstar of the sport.

The easing of the coronavirus in China allowed Zhang to conduct an open workout for the media at UFC's newly built Performance Institute in Shanghai this week.

But UFC events, like most sports, are taking place behind closed doors to prevent the spread of infections among spectators.

Asked by AFP about the pandemic's impact on her daily life, Zhang replied: "My life is about training. So if it affects my training, it affects my life."

Zhang's next opponent has not been confirmed, but the prospect of defending her title with nobody there to cheer, or jeer, is not one she relishes.

"Now there are no spectators, I feel a lot of things are missing and I don't feel that special excitement," said Zhang, "that's why I think that spectators are really important. I don't know how I would react if there is no audience. I really like spectators cheering for me or even booing me. I like that interaction."

UFC supremo White last week said that UFC will stage a series of bouts on "Fight Island" in the United Arab Emirates next month to ease travel headaches for international fighters.

Zhang welcomes the idea of competing on Abu Dhabi's Yas Island, where UFC staged a card in September last year.

She says that unlike travelling to the United States, she can get a visa on arrival, does not have so far to fly and does not have to suffer jetlag.

"I've been there before and watched a fight, and I also lived on that island when I was preparing for a fight," she said.

Zhang's new-found stardom has seen many more demands placed on her for media and commercial obligations, and she also has an active presence on social media.

But she says those have not placed any extra pressure on her or distracted her from training, and she knows that believing her own hype would be fatal for her career.

"I told myself that I must not become lazy, I must remember who I am, I should be the same as before I was champion and keep the desire to win," she said. "I have to keep that in mind, instead of thinking that I have already made it. Because once I start thinking like that, it'll fast be the start of the descent."

(With input from AFP)