Yan Xiaonan admits she was seconds away from being submitted by Zhang Weili in their UFC 300 strawweight title fight, but managed to survive the round and earn respect for her performance despite losing the match.
Yan Xiaonan confessed. She was just a breath away from being submitted by Zhang Weili.
It was last Saturday. Yan was up against the strawweight champion, Zhang, in UFC 300’s co-main event. She lost, but it was a unanimous decision.
Some might say it was a moral victory for Yan. Why? Zhang had her in a rear-naked choke attempt in the first round’s final moments. It was so close to putting Yan to sleep.
On Wednesday’s episode of The MMA Hour, Yan spilled the beans. She spoke through a translator about how close she was to losing consciousness.
“She got the rear-naked choke position real quick,” Yan admitted. “But I believed I could defend it.” Then, Zhang swept her. Yan was staring at the arena’s roof. She saw the clock on the big screen.
10 seconds left. Yan thought, “I can make it through this round.” But then, the bell rang. She was nearly out cold. It was like someone almost KO’d her.
But she knew what she had to do. Stand up. Walk to her corner. Show that the fight wasn’t over.
Yan had injured a thumb before the fight. She thinks that’s why Zhang could secure the choke so easily.
Even so, Yan was on the brink of disaster as the round ended. “Give Weili 10 more seconds, and I’d be out,” Yan said. “But that’s the game. Like basketball. If you shoot after the last second and make it, it doesn’t count.”
Yan managed to get up after the round. She was clearly disoriented but made it back to her corner. The commentary team thought the cutman used smelling salts to revive Yan. That’s against the rules. They later retracted the claim. Yan says it’s all nonsense.
“I didn’t notice what the cutman was doing,” Yan said. “I was recovering from the choke. I saw my coaches talking, but I couldn’t take in their words. The smelling salts thing is ridiculous. No one used those to wake me up.”
What woke her up? The water and ice poured over her head. It cleared her mind.
By the second round, Yan was back to normal. But she lost that round big time. Zhang took her down and nearly finished her with punches. It was 10-8 across the board.
But Yan didn’t give up. She won the third round and gave Zhang a tough time. It wasn’t enough to win, but she earned respect from Dana White, UFC’s CEO, and gained new fans.
“I can feel the love,” Yan said. “Dana came to the cage after the fight. He checked my ‘Born To Fight’ tattoo. He seemed to appreciate my performance.
Back at the gym, everyone was proud of her. “Proud of your performance, your heart, your will. You showed your championship will.” But Yan still felt a bit blue. She lost, after all.
“I believe I can do better,” Yan said. “But this is just a lesson. I’ll keep improving.”