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Mathew Scott

Xiong “Panda” Jingnan turned Asian mixed martial arts on its ear just as surely as she battered its golden girl Angela “Unstoppable” Lee on Sunday night, the Chinese fighter retaining her One Championship world strawweight title with a TKO in the fifth.
“Angela Lee is a good athlete and you can see from my cuts that this was a good fight,” said Xiong in the cage afterwards, belt tucked safely around her shoulder.
“My face proves that too and I really liked this fight. It doesn’t matter when or how I prepared for this fight. I made the sacrifice away from my home but I love my family at home at Bali MMA.”
Xiong later arrived at the post-fight press conference with her belt and gave it a quick kiss before smiling through the scrapes and bruises that come from battle.




“I didn’t think too much,” Xiong said. “I just wanted to do the right thing and concentrate on what I needed to do to win this fight. That’s all that was going through my mind.”
Lee had stepped up from atomweight in an attempt to become One’s first two-belt female champion but found a resolute Xiong blocking her path towards history.

One Championship: Angela Lee’s road to redemption after Xiong Jingnan defeat should be quick
The Chinese 31-year-old just kept coming back from the brink to move to 14-1 while Lee will look at her 9-1 record and look for answers. The 22-year-old phenom had never faced as heavy a hitter as Xiong and it was those hands – and a few feet – that brought it all to an end at 1:37 of the fifth.
The title bout had created a huge buzz all week as questions were asked about how Lee would cope up a division, and with the power that Xiong brings to the cage. And the fierce will to win. There was added spice given the pair had been set to meet in Singapore back in November before a back injury laid Lee low.
For much of the early exchanges the pair were evenly matched as Lee brushed off Xiong flurries that fell just short or wide of their mark while when she took matters to the ground, the Chinese fighter had enough strength to shrug off her opponent’s advances.

Xiong Jing Nan stops the "Unstoppable!" The showcases her trademark power in a stunning TKO of Angela Lee at 1:37 of Round 5! #WeAreONE #ANewEra #Tokyo #MartialArts pic.twitter.com/FCZ7bf3YJL
— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) March 31, 2019

But there was a big right elbow in the third, a huge right in the fourth and an arm bar attempt from Lee that seemed to bend Xiong’s limb to crazy angles.
Somehow she came back, and then she unleashed shots to the body from fist and foot as Lee started to crumble. Then the bell, and then delirium for Xiong.
It was a remarkable show of determination from the Chinese fighter who had said all week she thought she had the sheer will power to overcome whatever Lee threw at her.
How did she survive that arm bar?

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“Because I am Xiong Jingnan and I can’t lose,” she said. “People who know me know that I will never tap. You have to break my arm or knock me out.”
Lee looked in that fourth to have one hand on the title but Xiong somehow held on through the pain She then looked to be tanked after copping those body shots and the decision now will be whether to stay up in what is obviously more her natural weight division or drop back down to defend her title.
Time – at just 22 – is certainly on her side.
For Xiong the time is now.

EPIC armbar escape @angelaleemma #WeAreONE #ANewEra #Tokyo #MartialArts pic.twitter.com/aEN8Loo7KV
— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) March 31, 2019

Asked if she thought the victory made her the number one female fighter in Asia, Xiong played it cool.
“I don’t like labels like that,” she said. “I just want people to see what I do and to push themselves to their limit like I do.”
One Championship founder and CEO Chatri Sityodtong said he thought the win proved Xiong was in the top two strawweights in the world and hinted earlier that he quite fancied throwing his best fighters against the best the Las Vegas-based UFC had to offer.

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“I would put Jingnan against any strawweight in the world,” he said. “Only true champions can come back from that sort of adversity and knock someone like Angela Lee out.”
The bout was part of One’s first venture into Japan, with 15 fights including four for world titles and the Asian debuts for former UFC world champs Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson and Eddie “The Underground King” Alvarez.
Held inside the historic Ryogoku Kokugikan, home usually to Japan’s sumo warriors, the crowd was brought to life when the main card opened with two of the world’s best stand-up fighters in Thailand’s Yodsanklai Fairtex and Dutchman Andy Souwer going to war for just over a round before the Thai laid his foe low.

Then came a huge shock when Russia’s Timofey Nastyukhin (13-4) knocked Alvarez (28-7, one no contest) out of the lightweight title eliminator grand prix. The packed hall drew a collective breath with the shock of it all before Johnson (28-3-1) returned a sense of some normality, laying on a guillotine at 2:40 of the second to get the tap from Japan’s Yuya “Little Piranha” Wakamatsu (10-4) and move into the semi-finals of One’s flyweight title eliminator.
All the while the cameras kept flashing back stage as Xiong and Lee warmed up with stretches and tried to keep a lid on the rising tension.
They entered the cage to thunderous applause and then literally threw themselves into the fray. In the end it was Xiong who left with arms raised, and soon enough crowned in glory.


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ONE Championship

One Championship: Angela Lee suffers TKO defeat by Xiong Jingnan after brutal battle in Tokyo

Xiong Jingnan survived an onslaught to beat Angela Lee at One Championship: A New Era in Tokyo.

Angela Lee puts an armbar on Xiong Jingnan

Xiong Jingnan kicks Angela Lee

Xiong Jingnan kisses Angela Lee

Angela Lee punches Xiong Jingnan

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Timofey Nastyukhin catches Eddie Alvarez on the chin in Tokyo. Photos: One Championship

Demetrious Johnson hits Yuya Wakamatsu

Timofey Nastyukhin catches Eddie Alvarez

One Championship: Bibiano Fernandes refuses title after Kevin Belingon fight ends in controversy

Kevin Belingon is disqualified for illegal blows against Bibiano Fernandes. Photos: One Championship

Kevin Belingon swings at Bibiano Fernandes

Kevin Belingon hits Bibiano Fernandes in the back of the head

Sport

Martial Arts

Mixed Martial Arts

Xiong Jingnan survives deep arm bar assault in the fourth round to stop Lee with strikes in the fifth
The Chinese fighter retains her strawweight title at Ryogoku Sumo Hall


Xiong Jingnan survives deep arm bar assault in the fourth round to stop Lee with strikes in the fifth and retain her strawweight title at Ryogoku Sumo Hall.


Angela Lee

Martial arts

One Championship: Angela Lee suffers TKO defeat by Xiong Jingnan after brutal battle in Tokyo

Xiong Jingnan survives deep arm bar assault in the fourth round to stop Lee with strikes in the fifth The Chinese fighter retains her strawweight title at Ryogoku Sumo Hall

Xiong Jingnan survives deep arm bar assault in the fourth round to stop Lee with strikes in the fifth

The Chinese fighter retains her strawweight title at Ryogoku Sumo Hall