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Dana White Discussed Title Shot With Yan Xiaonan At UFC 288, Teases Possibility Of Showdown With Weili Zhang In China

The UFC President would love to have Yan Xiaonan and Weili Zhang fight for the strawweight title in their home country.

Drew Beaupré

(Ed Mulholland/Aaron Meullion/Jessica Alcheh/USA TODAY Sports)

It appears that Dana White and the UFC are actively looking into booking a strawweight title fight between Weili Zhang and Yan Xiaonan, with the preferred location being their native China.

One of the most impressive and significant results from last weekend’s UFC 288 came courtesy of Xiaonan, who knocked out former Strawweight Champion Jéssica Andrade in the first round on the event’s main card. Xiaonan entered the night as the promotion’s #6-ranked strawweight contender and now has back-to-back wins after also defeating Mackenzie Dern last year.

The strawweight title is currently held by Xiaonan’s Chinese compatriot Zhang, and at the UFC 288 post-fight press conference UFC President White indicated that the promotion would love to set up a title fight between the two women in their home country.

“I don’t know what we’re gonna do with Yan, where’s she’s gonna go. But I’m definitely gonna look at China…I’m looking at that right now.”

READ MORE: UFC 288 Live Results: Aljamain Sterling vs. Henry Cejudo 

If White’s comments at the UFC 288 post-fight press conference weren’t promising enough, Xiaonan also revealed on The MMA Hour that she’d spoken to the UFC President personally following her victory over Andrade.

“I met Dana in the locker room after the fight, and he said let’s do it in China. So if we can make the UFC China event happen, [let’s do it]…I think it’s possible, probably some point at the end of this year.”

The UFC last visited China in 2019 with a card in Shenzhen that was headlined by a strawweight title bout between Andrade and Zhang. “Magnum” needed less than a minute to finish the Brazilian and win the strawweight belt, and Zhang began her second reign as champion when she took the title from Carla Esparza at UFC 281 last November.

It remains to be seen what spot Xiaonan will rise to in the UFC’s strawweight rankings after beating Andrade at UFC 288, but with the UFC trying to bring its travel schedule back to something resembling pre-COVID days a title fight between Zhang and “Nine” certainly provides a unique opportunity for the promotion return to China.

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