The Shandong Province native continued to pile on the pressure in the second round. ![]() Xiong stayed cool and achieved mount position in the latter part of the first round, landing a barrage of ground strikes on the 25-year-old Brazilian who is five years her junior. Santos, despite her understated demeanor ahead of the contest, traded punches with Xiong and shocked the home fighter by taking her back and threatening with a rear-naked choke. Xiong, a former national team boxer, started the fight in typical aggressive fashion with flurries of punches. ![]() One women’s strawweight world champion, Xiong “The Panda” Jingnan, defended her title for the first time in China's mainland after a technical knockout victory over Brazilian challenger Samara Santos at the ONE Championship: Beyond The Horizon in Shanghai on Saturday evening.Īs the main bout of the MMA event which was held at Baoshan Arena, Xiong’s clash with Santos attracted some star spectators, including Ronnie O’Sullivan who is in town for snooker’s Shanghai Masters, as well as two-time Olympic boxing champion Zou Shiming. I think it is a great way to showcase my skills and a good opportunity for my career.Xiong ‘The Panda’ Jingnan pummels Samara Santos en route to retaining her ONE women’s strawweight world championship in Shanghai on Saturday. But a win could potentially secure Santos a spot in the upcoming atomweight Grand Prix and she sees this as the perfect opportunity to change her career trajectory, “I’ve been training really hard and we’ve studied her well We focused on clinching strategy for this fight, a lot of wrestling and jiu-jitsu because we know her strengths are her hands and the exchanges.”Ī third straight loss would put her promotional future in doubt. Santos and her team have spent a lot of time preparing for this fight and she believes they have come up with the right strategy to defeat the Chinese fighter, I can show that I am ready to get that win, and show that I evolved.” “I am persistent and dedicated, that’s how I am as a fighter and as a person. The 27 year old wants to turn things around with a win this week and says she is constantly improving even if this hasn’t been reflected in recent results, That is where I see my opportunity to win,” she said.Īfter losing six of her last seven fights Santos has lost a lot of the momentum she had after making a very successful start to her MMA career. “I am going to use my jiu-jitsu against her. The Brazilian believes she will have a big advantage on the ground and plans to exploit it, Santos is not going to rely on landing that lucky punch. There is always a way, maybe in an exchange a punch gets in there.” ![]() We are both women at the same weight, so you never know. “I think her striking game is better but I am not backing down from that. We always work on jiu-jitsu, but you will see a lot of improvement in my boxing.”īut Santos acknowledges that in order to win a striking match with Bo she would need a bit of luck, ![]() “I changed my team from my last fight and we’ve been working a lot more on boxing, so my exchanges will be a lot cleaner, a lot better. The Brazilian has switched training camps since she last competed and says she has been working on her standup game and specifically her boxing, She has good hands, she is great at striking and good in the exchanges.” She faces another difficult fight against #2 ranked atomweight. Now I’m coming back to my actual weight that I feel best at,” she said “When I got the chance to join ONE, it was in the weight category above. Santos says she has always been an atomweight and the 27 year old will be returning to her natural weight division on Friday when she faces Meng Bo at ONE: ‘Unbreakable’, The Brazilian was beaten on both occasions but she was forced to move up a division in order to take these fights. Samara Santos has faced two of the best strawweights on the ONE Championship roster, champion Xiong Jing Nan and #4 ranked Ayaka Miura.
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