Xiaonan Yan tends to keep herself to herself away from the octagon. The Chinese strawweight maintains a fairly low profile and is not as much of a social media star as some of her peers.
Xiaonan seems to spend her whole time training, although she does enjoy a spot of sightseeing in the US and has shared photos of herself at Disneyland and the Golden Gate Bridge.
This week she got all dressed up for a photo shoot which showed another side to an athlete who normally comes across as serious and hard working. Declaring that it was ‘photo day’ she shared some professional pictures of herself:
View this post on Instagram
Strong and beautiful
In the caption the Chinese strawweight declared that,
I’m a strong girl, I’m a beautiful girl
She is coming off a big win over Mackenzie Dern, a fighter who has no problem sharing intimate photos of herself and has amassed over 1 million Instagram followers in the process. Xiaonan won by majority decision after five closely contested rounds.
The win was particularly satisfying for Xiaonan because she was coming off a very controversial split decision loss to Marina Rodriguez. The Chinese fighter felt she clearly won the first two rounds of that fight.
Xiaonan is currently #6 on the UFC strawweight rankings so there is no questioning her strength. But she hasn’t appeared very concerned about beauty until this point.
View this post on Instagram
New home
Some of the most successful Chinese fighters on the UFC roster have relocated permanently to the US. Xiaonan is training at Team Alpha Male alongside compatriot Song Yadong.
Being based in Sacramento has allowed her to see the sights and sounds of Hollywood or to head in the opposite direction and go snowboarding in the mountains. Xiaonan does not currently have a fight booked but is back on track after suffering consecutive losses for the first time in her career.
Her record of 16-3 compares favourably with just about any fighter in the division and she will be looking to get back in action in 2023. In the meantime it is good to see this strong and beautiful strawweight enjoying life.
