Yang Xiaonan She went through quite the roller coaster in her first career Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) title fight.
Last weekend (April 13, 2024), the strawweight title was on the line in the co-main event of UFC 300. Two-time reigning champion Zhang Weiliwill aim to defend his title for the fourth time in total, teaming up with his compatriot Yan. The China-on-China matchup was won by Zhang in a hard-fought unanimous decision, but most of the drama occurred at the end of the first round.
After a mostly successful opening four minutes for the challenger, Yan found himself in a precarious position with the champion on his back in the final seconds. With 10 seconds left, Zhang landed a deep rear-naked choke that ultimately put Yan to sleep, or as much as possible, as the bell rang. In between rounds, commentators speculated that Cutman might have used stinky salts or something banned to reawaken Yan in his corner. The winning candidate disputed this idea after the fact, and the retired veteran umpire said, “big” john mccarthyclarified what happened.
“No smelly salt was used in Zhang vs. Xiaonan,'' McCarthy says. tweeted. “Commentators said the cutter, who works for the UFC (not a fighter), said, 'Do you want me to wake her up?' and then she was seen putting something under Yan's nose. I thought I saw it” Cutman (Rudy Hernandez) used a technique commonly seen in boxing that involves pushing the base of the nose inward and upward, causing pain. It makes the brain respond to push pressure. Rudy was applying pressure using his fingers and the gloves he was wearing were black. The commentator misunderstood the verbal question and the technique used. Nothing broke the rules. ”
Despite the tough early results, Yan bounced back to the best of his ability. After being slammed to the ground in the second round, and overcoming further danger, Yan won the third round on all judges' scorecards. As it turned out, Chan's wrestling was too strong for the challenger to overcome in the championship round.
completely UFC 300 results and LIVE commentary click here.
