Legacy Watch: Jingnan Xiong

The next
Ultimate Fighting Championship event will mark the Octagon
debut of Chinese mixed martial arts fighter Jingnan
Xiong, who is far from a typical newcomer.

At
UFC Macau, Xiong will lock horns with Angela Hill
in an eye-catching 115-pound clash on the preliminary card. While
she is 38, Xiong aims to secure her legacy as one of the most
dominant female fighters in Chinese mixed martial arts history. A
former One
Championship titleholder, Xiong captured the 125-pound title in
2018 and held it until leaving the promotion in 2026. The
accomplishment came a year before Weili Zhang
captured the UFC women’s strawweight crown, making a case for Xiong
as the first Chinese fighter to win a major MMA title. Before
leaving the Singapore-based company, Xiong piled up 11 wins in 12
appearances, including a victory over Nat
Jaroonsak in a custom-rule clash at One on Prime Video 14.

Initially known as a finisher thanks to a string of stoppages in
her Kunlun Fight run, Xiong later showed a more dominant but less
spectacular approach in the second half of her career. While she
comes from a boxing and kickboxing background, Xiong has repeatedly
shown throughout her championship run that she can impose a game
plan even against grappling specialists and execute it for 25
minutes without deviation. Across her title reign, Xiong faced
fierce grapplers in Michelle
Nicolini, Ayaka Miura
and Tiffany
Teo, none of whom could implement their preferred strategy.
Xiong’s striking earns enough respect on the feet that opponents
cannot commit fully to takedown attempts, and when they do, she has
the wrestling to deny them.

The win that sparked Xiong’s rise in popularity came at One “A New
Era” in Tokyo on March 31, 2019, when she took on Angela Lee.
“Unstoppable” entered unbeaten and carrying the One 115-pound belt,
moving up a weight class for a shot at a second divisional title.
Xiong survived a deep armbar attempt in the fourth round, then came
back to close the show in the fifth. The pair clashed again at One
“Century – Part 1,” this time with Xiong cutting down to 115 pounds
in an attempt to capture Lee’s championship. Lee accomplished the
improbable when she locked in a rear-naked choke in the fifth
stanza and forced “The Panda” to tap for the first time in her
career, denying her opponent’s attempt to become a two-division
titleholder. It was also the first stoppage loss of her career, and
it came with only 12 seconds remaining.

Xiong met Lee again at One on Prime Video 2 in Singapore, and the
rematch had a different texture. Xiong came out fast, staggering
“Unstoppable” multiple times with right hands and coming close to
finishing her foe in the first round. While Lee regrouped and
showed enough variety to make it competitive, Xiong imposed her own
pace and kept Lee from building any final momentum. Eventually,
Xiong upended her long-term rival on all scorecards, retaining her
title for the seventh time and taking home the final win in the
rubber match.

The One strawweight division was discontinued on March 26, making
Xiong its first and only divisional champion. In doing so, she
accumulated more time inside the One cage and ring than any other
fighter in promotional history — three hours and 22 minutes, a
testament to her longevity. Xiong proved she can impose her style
for five full rounds, slowly breaking opponents with pressure and
volume. The question is how she looks against UFC-level opposition
on May 30. Xiong has never lost at 125 pounds — the second loss on
her resume came in a 132-pound catchweight — now she gets the
chance to test herself against the best in the world.

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