Weili Zhang wants Boston Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla to train her

UFC champion Weili Zhang is interested in adding Joe Mazzulla, the mastermind behind Boston Celtics’ 4-1 victory in the NBA Finals this month, to her coaching team.

Wildly popular in China, Weili is also respected worldwide for her fighting style and depth of resume. Since her UFC debut in 2018, Weili has gone on a winning run, losing only to Rose Namajunas (twice), before rebounding with wins over Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Carla Esparza, Amanda Lemos, and Yan Xiaonan.

Mazzulla, meanwhile, became the youngest head coach to win the NBA Finals in more than 50 years when he, at 35 years old, helped coach the Celtics to victory over the Dallas Mavericks on June 17.

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Weili Wants Mazzulla

She said this week she’d welcome Mazzulla in her corner

Because of basketball’s popularity in China, and becoming friendly with Mazzulla when the Celtics used the UFC’s Performance Institute as a base when the team was training in Las Vegas, Weili has an interest in both the sport and the team, in particular.

“Coach Mazzulla is a champion,” she added. “He is welcome to come in my corner during a fight.”

CBS Sports reported earlier in the month that Mazzulla, a jiu jitsu practitioner and MMA fan, has incorporated UFC clips into his lessons. He even showed them footage of Alex Pereira’s win over Jamahal Hill, in which he absorbed a low blow before closing the show with striking violence.

“The closer you are to beating someone,” Mazzulla told reporters. “The closer you are to getting your ass kicked.”

Basketball And MMA Are Similar, Weili Said

‘I am a Celtics fan.’

Zhang said “the NBA is very popular in China” and that she watches “all the Celtics games.”

On what she likes about Mazzulla specifically, Weili said: “I admire the way he coaches. His approach is a patient one. You can see the similarities between basketball and MMA in the way he coaches. Both require endurance. You need to keep calm.

“His philosophy brought his team together. They are very united. That separates them from other teams.”

Weili last fought in the UFC 300 co-main event against Yan Xiaonan, and is linked with No.1-ranked strawweight contender Tatiana Suarez. It is unclear if Mazzulla and Weili’s calendars align so he can corner her next fight, but if it’s scheduled before October, when NBA pre-season begins, then he might be able to do it.