UFC: Yan Xiaonan has one eye on Carla Esparza – and one on ‘China Derby’ with Zhang Weili
- Chinese strawweight star returns to action on May 22; win, and title shot against Zhang Weili looms
- ‘I will win and then we will fight. It will be a Chinese Derby and that is what we are all waiting for,’ Yan says
Yan “Fury” Xiaonan is coming off a career-best victory that resulted in the Chinese fighter‘s rise to a ranking of No 3 in the UFC’s strawweight division, and yet she’s still not convinced the world has seen her at the peak of her powers.
The price for that may well be paid by the fourth-ranked American Carla Esparza when the pair meet at UFC Fight Night 192 on May 22.
“I will beat her down,” Yan told SCMP MMA this week. “Carla is very experienced in the UFC so I’m looking forward to fighting her. She’s on a 4-0 run and she’s very good at taking people down. But I’ll be ready. I’ll practice my takedown defence a lot – she’ll see a lot of improvement in me.”
Yan says she’s focused on Esparza, first, but admits that very thought is lingering somewhere there at the back of her mind.
