Fight Coverage
Co-Main Event Spotlight | UFC Macau
Top 10 Strawweights Yan Xiaonan And Tabatha Ricci Collide In The Co-Main Event At UFC Fight Night: Yan vs Figueiredo This Saturday In Macau
After falling short in her first shot at UFC gold last time out, Yan Xiaonan now looks to defend her spot as the No. 2 ranked strawweight contender against Tabatha Ricci, who recently moved into the No. 10 spot following back-to-back wins inside the Octagon.
At UFC 300, Yan met strawweight champion Zhang Weili in the co-main event. While the fight didn’t go her way, the 35-year-old showed the heart and resilience of a champion. Despite nearly being stopped in the closing seconds of round one and being out grappled to a 10-8 score in the second, Yan rebounded in round three, scoring a knockdown to win the round on all three judges' scorecards.
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And let’s not forget what earned Yan her title shot. Prior to getting 25 valuable minutes against the division’s best, Yan knocked out former 115-pound champion Jessica Andrade in under two-and-a-half minutes. Before that, she withstood a grapple-heavy offense from Mackenzie Dern and out struck the Brazilian 113-61 en route to a majority decision.
This Saturday, Yan goes up against rising contender Ricci, who’s won six of her last seven, with her only loss in the last three years coming by way of split decision against Loopy Godinez in May of last year. Each time out, Ricci continues to improve, and that was evident in her last performance against Angela Hill in August.
While Hill had a slight edge in significant strikes landed, Ricci was able to match her in total strikes and fully utilized her black belt in judo, scoring three key takedowns and controlling Hill on the mat for over five minutes.
It was a similar story in her previous fight against Tecia Pennington, where Ricci absorbed more significant strikes but had a higher overall output, including a takedown and another five minutes of control time.
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The stats for her matchup with Yan suggest we could be seeing a very similar fight this Saturday in Macau. Yan leads Ricci in nearly every striking category. Yan lands, on average, just under five strikes per minute, which is double the UFC average. She also lands at 45 percent accuracy, which is three percent higher than the UFC average.
Both Yan’s accuracy and efficiency are important to note because of one glaring statistic on Ricci’s side. The 29-year-old absorbs 5.3 strikes per minute, which is over two times more than the UFC average (2.5). The power advantage also appears to be in Yan’s favor. After all, she did knock out a former champion and knock down the current champion in her last two performances.
But then you have the world of grappling, which, statistically speaking, favors Ricci. On average, Ricci secures 2.99 takedowns per 15 minutes, three times more than Yan. She also boasts an impressive 81.8 percent takedown defense, which is well above the UFC average of 55 percent. This matchup could be a battle of who gets the other person to the ground first—Yan by knockdown or Ricci by takedown.
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Whoever comes out on top will make a major leap towards a shot at the belt. With the champion awaiting a new contender to emerge, a dominant performance on Saturday could be just what’s needed to climb the ranks and position themselves for a title fight in 2025.
UFC Fight Night: Yan vs Figueiredo took place live from Galaxy Arena in Macau, China on November 23, 2024. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!