A fan would make an image of Jedrzejczyk standing next to Zhang while wearing a gas mask, which was an obvious shot at the coronavirus currently ravaging Zhang’s home country of China.
Jedrzejczyk would share the image via Instagram stories, which ZombieProphet would show on Twitter:
Shame on you @joannamma! You just lost a fan with this BS pic.twitter.com/IFZTz6mS61
— ZombieProphet (@GIFsZP) January 28, 2020
Zhang, not happy with Jedrzejczyk joking about the coronavirus, would issue the following statement on Instagram:
It would not take long for Jedrzejczyk to understand the error of her ways and the fighter would issue an apology through Instagram Stories (via Peter Carroll of MMA Fighting):
“Hey champ, hey Weili. So sorry to make you feel bad, but I would never make fun of sick people of illness or virus. I didn’t want you to get offended, but I just made fun of the funny internet meme. So, so sorry, but still, I will see you on March 7th.”
The coronavirus has currently affected over 6,000 people in China and the world over according to CNN, with 132 people dying from the virus.
UFC 248 takes place on Saturday, March 7 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada with Israel Adesanya and Yoel Romero headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.