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5 burning questions heading into UFC on ESPN+ 15

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If you’re staying up all hours Friday night into Saturday morning to watch UFC on ESPN+ 15, congratulations, you’ve earned your hardcore fan merit badge.

The UFC debuts in the city of Shenzhen in the People’s Republic of China. Considering Shenzhen is a city of 12.5 million people in a nation of about 1.4 billion folks, this card is meant as a showcase of all the emerging talent in that part of the world, meant for a Chinese audience. If North Americans want to tune in, the UFC isn’t going to say no, but you’re not the target audience this time.

But say you do find yourself stumbling in from the bar and wanting to watch some middle-of-the-night live fights. In that case, there are some interesting fights for you to watch, and intriguing storylines to go with them.

UFC on ESPN+ 15 takes place Saturday at Universiade Sports Center in Shenzhen, China. The main card streams on ESPN+ following prelims on ESPN.

Without further ado, here are five storylines to watch from UFC on ESPN+ 15:

Is Weili Zhang getting her title shot a bit too soon?

When the UFC sees the potential for a fighter from outside North America to make a become a star in their home country, they usually go for the gold. That’s understandable, of course. Conor McGregor’s headline bout against Diego Brandao in Dublin in 2014 was a pivotal moment in making it clear McGregor was well on his way to superstardom.

On the other hand, there are times when the UFC pushes a bit too hard, too fast. Darren Till would be Exhibit A in this regard, as his UFC London headline date ended with Jorge Masvidal derailing his hype train.

Such is the roll of the dice a promoter takes in these matters. Which brings us to the UFC Shenzhen main event. Weili Zhang has the potential to become the breakout MMA star in China, and she’ll have her opportunity to do it in a strawweight title challenge for Jessica Andrade’s belt in the main event of UFC on ESPN+ 15.

Zhang (19-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) is unbeaten in the UFC. But her biggest victory in that stretch is over Tecia Torres, who has lost four in a row. It’s a big jump from there to title territory. Will Zhang sink or swim? We’ll find out soon enough if the UFC’s gamble in giving her a title shot this soon will pay off.

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