More fights are getting added to the upcoming UFC card in China every week but Xiaonan Yan is still without an opponent. We don’t know when the strawweight will be returning to the octagon but she has made it very clear what her ambitions are.
Yan wants the belt and she doesn’t care who she has to fight in order to get it. The current strawweight champion is Weili Zhang and Dana White recently made it clear he has no intention of making that fight in China.
But Yan has worked hard to secure the #2 spot at strawweight and has her eyes on the ultimate prize. She told her Instagram followers that,
“I aim to become a champion.”
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Hard work
The 34 year old also wanted to make it clear that her success has not come overnight but is the product of several decades of hard work,
“Started training martial arts when I was 13, eight years as a professional fighter, and six years in the UFC, I’m now ranked #2 in the women’s straw-weight division. It has not been an easy journey, and I know I still have some distance to go.”
Yan has not fought since May when she stopped Jessica Andrade in the opening round at UFC 288. As one of the best pound for pound female fighters om the roster she should be competing at least twice a year.
A UFC event in China is penciled in for December 9th and fights are already being confirmed for that card, even if it doesn’t have a venue yet. Song Yadong looks set to fight Petr Yan in the main event which means Weili Zhang definitely won’t be headlining.
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Bumpy ride
Yan definitely doesn’t sound like a fighter who has a bout booked. But she wants to make it clear that nothing will stand between her and the belt writing that,
This isn’t about anyone else, this is about me. My dream, my goal, my ambition, and my own challenge to become the best version of myself.
No matter whether you’re a hater or a fan, all of you motivate me to become better everyday.
I didn’t come this far just to come this far, because if you don’t want to be the best, why are you even in this sport?
It will be a bumpy ride ahead, but I’m more ready than ever.
The only strawweight currently ranked ahead of Yan, apart from the champion, is Carla Esparza. She already holds a submission win over the Chinese fighter from UFC Vegas 27 last year.
It isn’t clear what the UFC matchmakers have in mind for Yan. But she only has one thing on her mind and that is becoming the second Chinese fighter to win the strawweight belt.
