UFC women's strawweight champion Zhang Weili and Rose Namajunas could go head-to-head in early 2021. 

Zhang, 31, last fought in March when she beat Joanna Jedrzejczyk and her coach Pedro Jordao has now confirmed she will return to the octagon next year. 

The UFC have not officially announced the fight against Namajunas but Jordao believes that is what is in the pipeline for the Chinese star.

"We’ll see how things go with this virus," he told MMA Fighting.

"But I think (the fight) will probably be in the first quarter. … We’re training for a while here. It appears that her next fight will be against Rose, but nothing is set yet. Everything indicates that’s the plan — and it makes sense, everybody knows that."

Zhang is yet to lose a fight in UFC since making her debut in 2018 against Danielle Taylor.

But Jordao is well aware every fight presents new challenges and Namajunas cannot be underestimated.

"She’s (Namajunas) another tough opponent," he added. "I think Rose is more technical (than Zhang’s previous opponents), more calm, and very talented. It’s time to test that,

"I know she’s probably training really hard, but I think it’s a good match-up for Weili Zhang style-wise. 

"People say she’s is very strong, very strong, but we’ve seen how technical she is, too. I trust Weili and think she will be able to defeat Rose."

Zhang won her strawweight belt in August 2019 following a first-round TKO win over Brazilian Jessica Andrade.