She has one older brother, who quit his job as a gold trader to support Zhang's career, and now works at the gym where she trains.

When she was 12, her parents sent her to a specialized martial arts school in Handan where she began training in Sanda and a Shuai Jiao.

[17] At the age of 17 she moved to Beijing, where she worked various odd jobs: cashier at a supermarket, kindergarten teacher, security guard and hotel desk clerk.

She later switched to a front desk job, through which she got to know fighters who trained at the gym, one of them being her idol Wu Haotian, a pioneer of Chinese MMA.

[6][18][15] In a Chinese television show in December 2019, she mentioned that Hong Kong Action Superstar Donnie Yen was her inspiration to compete in MMA, and that Donnie Yen's 2007 feature film Flashpoint was her first introduction to the sport of MMA.

[19] She also credited Ronda Rousey, and particularly her fight with Liz Carmouche in 2013, as giving her the motivation to quit her job and pursue MMA full-time.

[22] Zhang made her first title defense against Aline Sattelmayer on June 1, 2017, at Kunlun Fight MMA 12.

[21] In her next bout, Zhang made her second KLF title defense on August 28, 2017, at Kunlun Fight MMA 14 against Marilia Santos.

[24] Zhang would fight one more time for KLF, amassing a record of 16–1 and improving her winning streak to 16 before signing with the UFC.

[26] On November 24, 2018, Zhang faced Jessica Aguilar at UFC Fight Night: Blaydes vs. Ngannou 2.

[34] In the first defense of her title, Zhang faced former strawweight champion Joanna Jędrzejczyk on March 7, 2020, at UFC 248.

[35] Zhang moved her training camp from China to Thailand and later moved to Dubai due to the COVID-19 pandemic,[36] as TSA rules stated a two-week quarantine was imposed for any non-US citizen to be granted entry to the United States if they had recently been in China.

[42][43][44] In the second defense of her title, Zhang faced former strawweight champion Rose Namajunas on April 24, 2021, at UFC 261.

[50] For this fight Zhang trained at Bangtao Muay Thai & MMA gym in Thailand and worked with Josh Hinger.