Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Check out these photos highlighting Xiong Jing Nan’s unanimous decision win over Angela Lee to retain the strawweight title at ONE on Prime Video 2.
Check out these photos highlighting [autotag]Xiong Jing Nan[/autotag]’s unanimous decision win over [autotag]Angela Lee[/autotag] to retain the strawweight title at ONE on Prime Video 2 from Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapre. (Photos courtesy of ONE Championship)
The rubber match between Xiong Jing Nan and Angela Lee lived up to many people’s expectations – and exceeded others’.
For the third time, [autotag]Xiong Jing Nan[/autotag] and [autotag]Angela Lee[/autotag] squared off inside the cage – and for the for the third time fight fans were treated to some high-level, high-paced action.
Atop the ONE on Prime Video 2 event Friday at Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore, champion Xiong (17-3) and challenger Lee (12-2) competed in a trilogy rubber-match for the women’s strawweight title. When the dust settled, Xiong was declared winner by unanimous decision.
There was a lot of dust that was kicked up over the span of five, five-minute rounds, but initially it looked like the bout might be stopped early on in the contest.
In Round 1, Xiong swarmed Lee and even knocked her down. Lee was on the retreat for much of the round with referee Herb Dean close by. Somehow, Lee did just enough to survive.
Although things seemed grim for her as she came out of her corner for Round 2, Lee proved it all to be an illusion. She out-grappled Xiong until the round-end bell and nearly pulled off an anaconda choke.
Xiong Jing Nan with a FLURRY! How did Angela Lee survive that?! 😳#ONEonPrimeVideo2 #ONEChampionship
🇺🇸🇨🇦 Watch live on @primevideo 👉 https://t.co/ZJZqnWKU30
🌍 Watch live 👉 https://t.co/8MeKhRMtjy pic.twitter.com/YQ2V4kyOey— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) October 1, 2022
In Round 3, the striking battle resumed. Xiong, like Lee, was not phased by one poor round. She landed effective striking on Lee once again. Meanwhile, Lee showed some of her better striking moments of the match.
The championship rounds rolled around but both fighters still looked fresh. Xiong’s boxing was crisp and effective, as she popped Lee in the face. Lee utilized her wrestling late as she shoved Xiong against the fence.
The final round brought as much violence as any. The two women traded blows, swollen, scratched, and bruised. As the clock winded down toward zero, the two signaled to the crowd. They threw their defense out the window and simply threw hands until the buzzer. Shortly thereafter, Xiong was declared the victor.
These World Champions left it ALL in the Circle! 👏 👑#ONEonPrimeVideo2 #ONEChampionship pic.twitter.com/wjVdWeF9mk
— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) October 1, 2022
The trilogy fight between Xiong and Lee lived up to its billing. #ONEonPrimeVideo2 pic.twitter.com/iSBsiWw1Ki
— Prime Video (@PrimeVideo) October 1, 2022
#ONEonPrimeVideo2 results: Xiong Jing Nan def. Angela Lee via unanimous decision
Full results: https://t.co/G8uhZC9aUd pic.twitter.com/VEnTjufb52
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) October 1, 2022
Xiong and Lee fought twice prior to Friday’s bout, with the fighters at one win apiece. Xiong won their first meeting with a TKO due to a body kick and punches in March 2019. Seven months later, Lee extracted her revenge with a fifth-round submission in October 2019.
With the win, Xiong extends her winning streak to four. Meanwhile, Lee moves to 2-3 in her most recent five.
The full ONE on Prime Video 2 results include:
MAIN CARD
PRELIMINARY CARD
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for ONE on Prime Video 2.
[vertical-gallery id=2585430]
Watch a live stream of the ONE on Prime Video 2 ceremonial weigh-ins and faceoffs featuring Angela Lee vs. Xiong Jing Nan.
The ONE on Prime Video 2 ceremonial weigh-ins and faceoffs take place Thursday (Friday locally) in Singapore, and you can watch a live stream of the festivities right here on MMA Junkie at 10 p.m. ET (7 p.m. PT).
The main event features a third encounter between champions as atomweight titleholder [autotag]Angela Lee[/autotag] challenges [autotag]Xiong Jing Nan[/autotag] for her strawweight belt, marking the first title-fight trilogy in the history of major women’s MMA.
You can watch Lee (11-2) and Xiong (17-2), as well as the rest of the card, step on the scale and face off in the video above.
[lawrence-related id=2584835,2584130]
ONE on Prime Video 2 takes place Friday (Saturday locally) at Singapore Indoor Stadium. The entire event streams on Amazon Prime Video beginning at 8 p.m. ET.
Below is the lineup of MMA bouts featured on the card:
[vertical-gallery id=437286]
[listicle id=2584109]
Together, Angela Lee and Xiong Jing Nan will make women’s MMA history at ONE on Prime Video 2, but Lee also seeks some history of her own.
[autotag]Angela Lee[/autotag] and [autotag]Xiong Jing Nan[/autotag] will make women’s MMA history together at ONE on Prime Video 2, but Lee hopes to make some history of her own, too.
Lee, the ONE Championship women’s atomweight champion, is moving up from 115 pounds to 125 to challenge strawweight titleholder Xiong in what will be their third encounter, marking the first time that a major MMA title-fight trilogy has taken place between two women. Aside from that, Lee is trying to become the first female MMA double champ in ONE, which means everything to her.
“Going up to strawweight and capturing this second belt has been a goal of mine for many years now,” Lee said during Wednesday’s ONE on Prime Video 2 news conference. “It’s a big moment for me. It’s a historical moment. I’m just very honored to get the opportunity once more, and I’m definitely going to be taking advantage of that.”
The series between Lee (11-2) and Xiong (17-2) is even at one apiece, with each woman successfully defending her title against the other. Their most recent matchup was nearly three years ago, when Lee won a grueling affair by late fifth-round submission in October 2019. Earlier that year in March, another hard-fought battle ended with a finish, only it was Xiong derailing Lee’s champ-champ hopes and handing her first career loss by fifth-round TKO that began with a hard kick to the body.
Body kicks are something Lee will be aware of heading into the trilogy.
“I’ve reviewed the tape with my team,” Lee said. “We have seen that was an area that was exposed in previous fights, and so we definitely worked to correct that in this fight camp. We worked some counters for the body shots, as well, so looking forward to defending some body shots, maybe.”
[lawrence-related id=2584130]
The long and short of it is that Lee, just like the first two, isn’t expecting an easy matchup with Xiong, who is riding a three-fight winning streak.
She can’t wait to get it going.
“I’m really excited for our third matchup,” said Lee, who’s coming off a submission win over Stamp Fairtex this past March. “It’s been three years, and I know that we both have improved since then, and I’m excited to step in the cage and really test ourselves and see who’s gonna come out on top. It’s gonna be a great fight.”
[vertical-gallery id=437286]
Xiong Jing Nan and Angela Lee are tied 1-1 heading into their historic trilogy at ONE on Prime Video 2.
On Friday, ONE on Prime Video 2 is headlined by a historic trilogy.
In the main event, strawweight champion [autotag]Xiong Jing Nan[/autotag] puts her 125-pound title on the line against atomweight champ [autotag]Angela Lee[/autotag]. The third encounter between the two fighters will make the first major title-fight trilogy in women’s MMA history, with Xiong and Lee splitting victories in their two previous encounters.
On March 31, 2019, Lee’s bid to become a champ-champ was derailed when Xiong finished her by fifth-round TKO with body kicks and punches at ONE Championship: A New Era. Then in the rematch on Oct 13, 2019, Lee got her revenge when she finished Xiong with a rear-naked choke submission in the fourth round to retain her atomweight title.
Who will come out on top in the trilogy? Take a look at the story behind their rivalry with highlights from their previous two fights in the video above.
ONE on Prime Video 2 takes place Friday at Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore. The main card streams at 10 p.m. ET following prelims at 8 p.m. ET all on Amazon Prime Video.
[vertical-gallery id=437286]
ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong said he’d love to see a super fight between UFC champ Zhang Weili and ONE champion Xiong Jing Nan.
ONE Championship chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong said he’d still be willing to co-promote with the UFC, and said between the two promotions they could stage one of the biggest female MMA fights in history.
During a Facebook Q&A Thursday, Sityodtong was asked about his “dream matchup for women’s mixed martial arts” and offered a UFC vs. ONE Championship clash he said would generate huge interest in his part of the world.
“For women’s mixed martial arts, I would love to see [autotag]Xiong Jing Nan[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Zhang Weili[/autotag],” said Sityodtong. “I think Jing Nan is the one to beat Weili.”
The two Chinese fighters hold the two promotions’ strawweight titles, albeit at slightly different weights due to the way ONE categorizes its weight classes. But the pair certainly is close enough in weight to meet in an all-Chinese super fight with UFC’s Weili (21-1 MMA, 5-0 UFC) taking on ONE’s Jing Nan (14-2 MMA, 5-1 ONE) in a groundbreaking cross-promoted clash.
[lawrence-related id=395719,497186,502134]
Sityodtong also said ONE’s atomweight champion, [autotag]Angela Lee[/autotag] (10-2), would be a worthy inclusion in any female super fight.
“I think Angela Lee vs. any atomweight in the world,” he said. “Angela Lee is incredible. I’ve seen her in training. I’ve seen her go into a bout with pneumonia with doctor’s advice not to compete and I’ve tried my best to stop the fight. Angela Lee’s an absolute warrior and she’s just a genius on the ground.”
Sityodtong was also bursting with praise for his other female superstar, [autotag]Stamp Fairtex[/autotag]. The Thai fighter competes in three different disciplines for ONE and captured the promotion’s kickboxing and muay Thai titles when she was just 22. Now she’s making inroads as an MMA atomweight with a 4-0 record. Sityodtong said he thinks her elite striking could also make her a dangerous opponent for the Weili.
“I think Stamp Fairtex could beat Zhang Weili, as well,” said a bullish Sityodtong. “Stamp Fairtex against any female striker in the world or any female MMA fighter in the world. Even though she’s only 4-0 in MMA, she’s a complete beast.”
The chances of a UFC vs. ONE Championship card may seem unlikely, with the UFC showing little prior interest in co-promoting with other big global organizations. But Sityodtong said the door would certainly be open if the UFC ever had a change of mind, and said the sheer scale of a UFC vs. ONE card would produce something unlike anything we’ve seen in the sport to date.
“I would definitely like to see the best of the East vs. the best of the West,” he said. “UFC vs. ONE Championship I think would be phenomenal. I think the whole entire world would watch it. And I’d love to see world champions vs. world champions. So definitely, for sure, I’m open to it.”
[vertical-gallery id=395818]
ONE Championship commentator Michael Schiavello chatted with MMA Junkie as he shared his dream fights to make once the MMA world gets back into full swing.
With no fights set to take place for the foreseeable future due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis, much of the MMA world has been left pondering which big fights they’d love to see when the world gets back to normality again.
One man who has a wish list packed with blockbuster super fights is ONE Championship commentator Michael Schiavello, who chatted with MMA Junkie to offer his suggestions for some of the biggest post-coronavirus matchups he’d love to see under the ONE Championship banner later this year, as well as a pair of dynamite cross-promotion fantasy fights involving ONE Championship and UFC stars.
Schiavello: “[autotag]Aung La N Sang[/autotag] vs [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] is such a battle of styles and a battle of range.
“How does Aung La handle someone with the range of Jon Jones? He got past the range of Vera pretty easily, but Jones uses his range on a whole other level. And how does Jones react when he hits Aung La with these long-reaching high knees and hands and legs, and Aung La walks through them, gets in his face and lands that steel pipe to his jaw, and touches him up?
“That would be magnificent. But it also depends a lot on where you’re going to hold this match. If you hold it in the U.S., in Jones’ backyard, an obvious advantage swings to him. But if you hold this in Yangon, in Myanmar, in a soccer stadium with 50,000 people in there, I’m telling you, a big advantage swings back to Aung La. That crowd alone is like nothing you’ve ever seen in your life.
“I’ve commentated the biggest combat events. I’ve done the Olympics, I’ve done K-1, I’ve done DREAM, I’ve done Dynamite, I’ve done 80,000 people in the Tokyo Dome – I’ve done them all. But I’ve never heard anything like 10,000 inside Thuwunna Indoor Stadium when Aung La is fighting. To say you can’t hear yourself think is true. I can’t hear myself commentate these fights, even though I’ve got my headphones cranked up to 10 out of 10 on my levels. I can’t hear myself. It’s nuts.
“For anyone to come into that atmosphere – for Jon Jones to step into Myanmar and compete in that atmosphere – it’s so overwhelming. People might read this and go, ‘Come on, Schiavello! Jon Jones will obliterate Aung La.’ People are thinking you can’t compare Aung La to Jon Jones, but no, man. If you’re going to compare, you have to compare in all the aspects, and one big aspect is Aung La in Myanmar is untouchable, unbeatable. What would happen if Jones stepped into Aung La’s backyard and did it there? There’s so many factors, and that’s what makes it a fantastic match.”
Schiavello: “From a population viewpoint, clarifying they’re [autotag]Zhang Weili[/autotag] and [autotag]Xiong Jing Nan[/autotag] – imagine the eyes on that, just from China alone.
“You put Xiong Jing Nan against Zhang. Who’s the better? Who’s the real superpower between those two? Two ferocious athletes who have completely different styles. That would be magnificent. That would be a great fantasy double-header right there.”
Next up: A huge fight for the biggest title in ONE Championship
