April’s UFC 300 card continues to take shape, even if it still missing a ‘blockbuster’ main event.
The UFC’s women’s strawweight champion, Zhang Weili, will defend her world title against compatriot Yan Xiaonan on the April 13 card scheduled for the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, as confirmed by UFC CEO Dana White on social media overnight. It is the first world title fight in UFC history to feature two Chinese fighters.
Zhang (pictured above) has posted a 24-3 career record in her mixed martial arts career, with her only defeats in the past 11 years coming against former champ Rose Namajunas in back-to-back fights in 2021 in which she lost — and then failed to regain — the title. Following Namajunas’ loss to Carla Esparza, Zhang won the title for a second time with a second-round rear-naked choke win against Esparza at the UFC 281 card in New York City in November 2022. Since then, she has scored one defence of her crown: a unanimous decision victory over Amanda Lemos this past August.
Yan, by comparison, is 17-3 in her overall career and 8-2 in the UFC since entering the organisation in November 2017. She has most recently earned successive wins against Jessica Andrade and Mackenzie Dern to place herself in title contention.
“This fight has badass written all over it,” White said on social media as he announced the fight.
The Zhang vs. Yan title fight is the latest bout to have been announced for the UFC’s bumper card in April. It follows a featherweight fight between Aljamain Sterling and Calvin Kattar, a 205-pound contest between Jiri Prochazka and Aleksandar Rakic, Charles Oliveira vs. Arman Tsarukyan and Bo Nickal against Cody Brundage.
White also stated that “at least” two more fight announcements are expected to be confirmed on Thursday.
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