On May 7, Chinese women's Yan Xiaonan made an appearance at UFC 288 to face former UFC women's strawweight champion Andrade "Pile Driver".
Yan Xiaonan quickly knocked out her opponent in this bout, after which she hopes to challenge current champion Zhang Weili, when the UFC will welcome the Chinese champion derby.
Over the years, when it comes to Chinese UFC fighters, the first name that most people think of is destined to be Zhang Weili, but Yan Xiaonan is also strong - as the first Chinese female fighter to sign a UFC, she once played a wave of 6 consecutive wins after entering the octagon, but in May 2021, she unfortunately lost to the strawweight original champion Esparza and lost the qualification to challenge the belt, and then Yan Xiaonan lost points to Rodriguez...
During that period of slump and also forgotten by the outside world, Yan Xiaonan did not give up, trained hard in the United States, and defeated the famous Dunn with an injury in October last year to regain the ranks of the championship contenders.
Keep hitting with one hand
"My dream is to win a championship, and that's every MMA player's dream." In the face of surging news reporters, Yan Xiaonan never hid her thoughts, even when the UFC suffered two consecutive defeats, her goals did not change.
The match with Dunn in October last year can be considered a backwater battle - Yan Xiaonan was accidentally injured in training five weeks before the match, and he couldn't move at all for two weeks, but under such great pressure, Yan Xiaonan defeated his opponent.
Recalling that in the second and fifth rounds, Yan Xiaonan was locked to the ground by his opponent, "It hurt at that time, and when the doctor examined me after the game, he also said that I might be injured because of this, but I couldn't shoot (admit defeat), even if I broke a bone, I had to continue to fight with one hand..."
In the eyes of friends, Yan Xiaonan has always been a very strong girl, and she herself said: "If you want to win the victory and prove yourself, not just show others, after working hard for so long, you must give yourself an explanation." ”
Since August 2021, Yan Xiaonan has been training hard in the United States, except for Song Yadong, who has lived in the United States for a long time, and she is almost the Chinese athlete who has spent the longest time overseas.
During this period, in addition to training and preparation, Yan Xiaonan had no other activities - the most ruthless day, Yan Xiaonan took five training sessions in one breath, and she only went to Disney and Universal Studios for the first time in October 2022, or because of her father's arrival, "I want to take my father around, when I was in China, there was Disney in Shanghai, but we haven't been there." ”
Yan Xiaonan and his father.
Geng Zhi girl who is easy to offend
This kind of hard work, the closest friends are in the eyes, Hao Huizi has been a classmate with Yan Xiaonan since she was 13 years old, and she is also her teammate, and during this time in the United States, Hao Huizi is by her side as an assistant.
"She said she was comfortable with life in the United States, but if I wasn't there, she wouldn't even have a single person to talk to." In Hao Huizi's opinion, Yan Xiaonan is too straightforward, sometimes until he has no friends.
"We are more familiar with Song Yadong, occasionally go to his house to play, Xiaonan will also chat with Li Jingliang, but she will always talk to death. For example, when everyone gets together and others say something, she 'clicks' and sings against you, not intentionally (to embarrass each other), but always embarrassed. ”
Yan Xiaonan is such a personality, what to say, how to think, this personality also gives her continuous recruitment on the Internet - for example, last year Zhang Weili won Esparza and regained the belt, some netizens questioned Yan Xiaonan did not congratulate Zhang Weili at the first time.
In this regard, Yan Xiaonan told the surging news reporter: "We have no interaction on the Internet, but we all communicate in private and cheer each other, in fact, other players do not have so much interaction on the Internet, why do you hold me?" ”
After thinking for a while, she smiled again, "In fact, it's normal, the two of us are at the same level, and netizens will definitely always stare at each other, which is understandable." ”
Yan Xiaonan and his own training team.
Hao Huizi also admitted that she did not "educate" Yan Xiaonan, "I told her many times, telling her, 'This is not good', but she said, 'I just can't change it'... Therefore, why do you bother you on the Internet, talking too straight, everyone likes to listen to good things, if you don't say it, it will definitely annoy you. ”
Yan's stubbornness is also reflected in social media exposures, where her personal account posted only 149 videos, far less than other well-known Chinese contestants.
"At the beginning, I didn't make a video, many people told me that I had to do this, so that I could attract fans, I didn't care too much, and then I asked Hao Huizi to help me get it simply... I think if you train well, if you can win the game, the exposure will be good, no matter how good the video is, it is useless, and it is useless if the game cannot be won. ”
Yan Xiaonan frankly said her heart, and the surging news reporter also reminded her that many brand sponsors now consider social media data, and Yan Xiaonan's answer makes you feel her "straight" even more.
"I didn't know at the beginning (there was this relationship), but then I knew, but I didn't pay too much attention, and in the end it was all live streaming goods? I can't do this, I may be able to say that I can't eat dates and say that dates are not sweet, but I'm not poor enough to laugh, and then I have to laugh and then consume fans, which is not necessary. ”
Yan Xiaonan has a somewhat cold outside and hot inside, according to her own words, the least resistant to dogs, "I met stray dogs on the road, I felt pitiful, I always wanted to take them home, I already have three dogs in my own family." ”
Of Yan Xiaonan's three cute pets, two are teddy and one is bit. In 2017, the dog of his friend Doss's family gave birth, and Yan Xiaonan immediately went to hug one.
Now in the United States, being able to go to a friend's house to pet a dog on weekends has become Yan Xiaonan's happiest thing.
Petting dogs is Yan Xiaonan's favorite.
Queen of the stalls
In the eyes of some people, Yan Xiaonan may be so "unpleasant", but this girl always knows what she is doing.
Before entering the UFC, Yan Xiaonan, like Zhang Weili, also spent a period of wandering, when after graduating from the Xi'an Sports Institute, Yan Xiaonan, a national first-class athlete, decided to go to Beijing to work.
"When I was in the provincial sanda team, I was young, and my best results were the top eight in the country, and I saw many senior sisters with better results, such as taking the second place in the country, and finally retiring, going home to be a teacher, and if you want to be a coach, you have to find a relationship..."
"At that time, there were not many commercial competitions, and in 2008 and 2009, I also played commercial competitions, and I remember that the first game was only 500 yuan."
In Beijing, Yan Xiaonan has worked as a bodyguard, club coach, worked in a film and television company, and even set up a stall, and she has her own thinking every step of the way.
In Yan Xiaonan's description, many of her group of athletes worked as bodyguards, earning more than 10,000 a month in Beijing, which was already a very high salary at that time, but she worked twice, each time less than a month before resigning.
"It's not what I like (work), it's a waste of time every day, just driving with the boss, it's not interesting."
Speaking of Yan Xiaonan's part-time job, the most successful experience is probably a stall, she still recalls, and she still laughs, "We made a lot of money." ”
After quitting his job as a bodyguard, once Yan Xiaonan was shopping with his little sisters, saw someone selling plush toys, found it quite simple and quite profitable, so he immediately took action, put on a suitcase, and went to the wholesale mall in Beijing to buy goods.
Yan Xiaonan recalled: "I can generally earn 200-300 yuan on weekdays, and I can earn 500-700 yuan when the business is good."
On National Day 2014, Yan Xiaonan and her sisters set up a stall in Beijing's 798 Art District – selling toys. On the first day, because of the rain, there was very little flow of people, and the business was very bad, at that time there was a stall selling marshmallows next door, seeing that the business was not good, I didn't want to do it, but Yan Xiaonan took the stall over.
"I looked at the weather forecast and it won't rain the next day, and I think there will be more people by then."
That night, Yan Xiaonan and her sisters bought machines and raw materials online and spent the whole night researching how to make marshmallows. It began to sell the next day, and as a result, after a long holiday of 7 days, Yan Xiaonan earned fifty or sixty thousand.
Yan Xiaonan set up a stall intermittently for half a year, during which there was no lack of wits and courage with the chengguan, she also used the money earned from the stall and some of her savings to buy a house for her parents in Shenyang, "I wanted to change a bigger house for my parents, the total price was 440,000 yuan at that time, I paid the down payment, took out a loan for 10 years, and repaid 3,000 yuan a month..."
Yan Xiaonan
Because of filial piety, so comeback
Yan Xiaonan is such an idea-oriented and filial girl, and her return to the arena is largely related to a filial piety.
In 2015, an agent asked her if she wanted to go to the Philippines to play an URCC tournament (MMA), and Yan Xiaonan agreed.
"At that time, I was playing 57 kg, I didn't have to lose weight, I could mainly take my mother on a trip, and there was money to get, what a good thing, win or not, it didn't matter at that time..."
Unexpectedly, Yan Xiaonan easily won the competition, and an idea came to her at that time, "I think I am quite suitable for MMA, before 2012, when I was not retired, I also played some MMA competitions and only lost once." The only one I lost, I didn't practice Jiu-Jitsu well at all, I was still learning off the field before the match, and I couldn't defend at all..."
In addition to the good memories of participating in MMA events, Yan Xiaonan also saw opportunities from many peers.
"When I played URCC in 2015, I found that my opponent was older than me, almost 30 years old, she could still fight, and I also saw many girls abroad playing into their 30s. At that time, MMA was developing very well, and I watched the video of Brother Tie (Zhang Tiequan) and felt that I could try again, and I had a good rest after a few years of retirement, and my injuries on my body were all recovered. ”
This opportunity allowed Yan Xiaonan to return to the ring and go all the way to the present.
Some people must think that Yan Xiaonan's ability to fight hard is somewhat related to his efforts in sanda in his early years, but Yan Xiaonan, who is straight, never borrows a donkey from the slope.
"It can be said that sanda did not bring me many good memories. I remember when I was competing nationally, we played team competitions, we lost the first two games, and I didn't have a turn to play. In fact, my teammate obviously won, but was judged to lose. After that, I also played other domestic sanda matches, and I lost all three games, and I feel that I have an advantage..."
When it comes to finding a job, her past achievements in sanda did not help her much, "I went to an interview at a club in Chaoyang University Town, I showed them the certificate of achievement I had obtained in the past, they didn't do anything right, maybe I was thin and small at that time, only 52 kg, not so powerful, didn't want to recruit me, and then I got my resume and it was over, which hit me hard." ”
"But if you don't practice sanda, you can't play MMA, and you can't go all the way. Maybe I was too discouraged at the time. ”
Yan Xiaonan and Andrade
I am eager to compete with Zhang Weili
Against Andrade, sanda-related striking skills are still Yan Xiaonan's victory.
"The tactics developed by the coach are to control the distance, strike more, pay attention to the pace of wandering and anti-falling. If I do this well, I can win the game. ”
Although Yan Xiaonan said he was only focused on the match in front of him, the winner of this bout could well be the opponent of Chinese strawweight champion Zhang Weili.
The current discussion between Yan Xiaonan and Zhang Weili is undoubtedly more popular on the Internet, and about whether he wants to fight Zhang Weili, Yan Xiaonan's answer is very direct and sincere:
"Every MMA player's dream is to win a championship, she is a champion and I definitely want to play with her. Actually, I'm going to fight for the championship and I don't care who the opponent is. ”
Yan Xiaonan is 33 years old, she is determined to continue on this road of pursuing the championship, she has no answer about when to retire, but what she wants to do after retirement, Yan Xiaonan has already had a plan.
During the days of working in Beijing, Yan Xiaonan once led private lessons in the club, and this straight girl couldn't help but want to give guidance when she saw that other students were doing wrong and not doing well.
"I want to be a coach and I can have it now, thanks to the boxing club that has been cultivating and supporting me. Now I train and compete abroad like studying abroad, spending so much money, putting in so much sweat, learning all my skills, of course, I want to go back to China to teach younger players. ”
"Being able to develop champions in the future is another goal for me."