Yan Xiaonan believes title fight with Weili Zhang would show ‘how strong Chinese women really are’
Yan Xiaonan believes a meeting with current UFC women’s strawweight champion Weili Zhang is not too far off in the future.
Yan earned the biggest win of her career following a unanimous decision victory over former title challenger Claudia Gadelha at UFC Vegas 13 this past weekend.
That means the 31-year-old is now 6-0 since signing with the UFC in 2017 while she should move up to the top five in the latest rankings update.
And with one more win, Yan thinks she will face Zhang in an all-Chinese showdown.
“I think I’m one shot away from getting a title shot from Dana White,” she said through a translator at the UFC Vegas 13 post-fight press conference (via MMA Mania).
“Everybody’s seen my entire grappling tactics. I’m getting better … If it’s going to be a championship fight it’s going to show the whole world how strong Chinese women really are.”
It’s a prospect that appeals to UFC president Dana White as well.
“[Two Chinese fighters competing for a title] is crazy, and so quickly, too,” White said following the event. “She obviously beat a very tough vet in Claudia tonight, and we’ll see what’s next for her.”
For now, it looks like former champion Rose Namajunas is next in line to face Zhang.
But should “Magnum” come out on top, her next title defense could very well come against Yan who believes she has what it takes to inflict defeat on her fellow compatriot.
“I am aware of this, that if I win this fight there is the chance that I might fight Weili,” Yan told SCMP MMA during fight week. “That is the direction I want to go in. Of course we know each other, although we are not close friends.
“We are in different gyms but I have watched her like everyone else. I think I am faster than her so I can beat her. I think about this a lot, about how to beat her. Because we are both Chinese I think I know how to fight her better than everyone else, and I know how to beat her.”
It would certainly be a big deal for Chinese sports and depending on how the situation is worldwide with regard to the COVID-19 pandemic, maybe it could be held in China.
