The UFC returns to Macau on November 23rd and they are bringing a really strong card with them. The card will be headlined by a bantamweight title eliminator between Petr Yan and Deiveson Figueiredo. However, also on the card is going to be a big time strawweight matchup featuring a former title challenger making her homecoming.
China’s Yan Xiaonan (17-4) returns home to take on “Baby Shark” Tabatha Ricci (11-2). Starting with Tabatha Ricci, this is a golden opportunity for her to jump straight into title contention. Currently, she’s ranked ninth in the division while Yan is ranked second at 115.
Ricci is coming off two straight wins following her second loss inside the octagon. Ricci debuted at flyweight and lost to Manon Fiorot. However, since dropping to strawweight, she’s gone 5-1. Her lone loss came against Loopy Godinez at UFC 295 last November. That said, she’s bounced back incredibly strong this year with wins over Tecia Pennington and Angela Hill.
UFC Macau
Yan Xiaonan made her octagon debut back in 2017 and impressively won her first six fights including wins over two former title challengers. That led her to a title eliminator against Carla Esparza back in 2021 and unfortunately for Yan, she was dominated in that fight. She then lost a split decision against Marina Rodriguez.
However, she bounced back incredibly strong getting a decision win over Mackenzie Dern then a huge first round knockout over former UFC champion Jessica Andrade. That led her to UFC 300 where she faced off against the champion who is also from China, Zhang Weili.
It was competitive at points during the fight and Yan showed just how tough she is, but ultimately she fell short. Now, she’s looking to get back to the strawweight title and that starts in Macau with Tabatha Ricci.