UFC 300 Strawweight Showdown: Weili vs Xiaonan

For the first time in the UFC, two fighters from China will go one-on-one in a title bout

being dubbed the “Chinese Derby”. In the lone women’s contest on the main card,

Zhang Weili and Yan Xiaonan will face off for the women’s strawweight championship.

Both women are well versed in the sport with over 20 matches a piece, which doesn’t

include the four kickboxing matches Weili had outside the MMA realm.

Zhang Weili (-380)

The UFC strawweight champion, Zhang Weili, is coming off a unanimous decision

victory over Amanda Lemos last August at UFC 292 after the two went five full rounds.

Having taken up Shaolin Kung Fu at the age of six, the martial arts lifer has been in the

pro game for eleven years now and is a two time UFC women’s strawweight champion.

This will be the third overall strawweight title defence for the 34-year-old who sits atop

ESPN’s pound-for-pound rankings.

She holds a record of 8-2 in the UFC with her lone two UFC losses sandwiched

between victories over Hall of Famer Joanna Jędrzejczyk. Those two losses came

against Rose Namajunas, which Weili will hope to avenge after this bout. She is on a

three-match win streak with victories coming in the form of knockout, submission and

the aforementioned unanimous decision over Lemos. She’s taken home either

performance of the night, performance of the year, fight of the night or fight of the year

in each of her last five victories. With an overall record of 24-3 and going for a third

strawweight defence, Weili has to be in the conversation as one of the best female

talents to ever utilize her talents in the sport.

Yan Xiaonan (+315)

In the opposing corner, and finally earning her first title shot, Yan Xiaonan was the first

female Chinese fighter signed by the company back in 2017. Also entering at 34 years

of age, Xiaonan has been in the pro fight game since 2008 and sports an 8-2 record

since entering the UFC in 2017. She went on a six-match win streak before dropping

back-to-back Ultimate Fighting contests but has turned things around, winning two

straight. She’s gone the distance in eight of her ten bouts in the UFC, including six

unanimous decisions going her way. For Xiaonan, this will be her first bout since May of

last year where she won via first-round knockout.

For the latest UFC 300 odds, visit BetOnline.