XIONG JING NAN

XIONG JING NAN always dreamed of becoming a professional athlete, but she originally had her sights set on a weightlifting career. However, she soon discovered boxing and fell in love with the striking art.

Xiong’s journey through ‘the sweet science’ began at the age of 18 when she became a member of the Shandong women’s boxing team, later representing China internationally. After adding Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to her arsenal, she proved to be talented in all areas of combat sports, even winning a China Open BJJ Championship.

Encouraged by her father to continue focusing on martial arts, she then set her sights on competing in MMA and threw herself into it completely, training four times a day until late at night. Standing up for the weak and bullied whenever she could, Xiong made many sacrifices to be the best in her field. She moved away from home and renounced many of the typical teenage activities to focus on training for competition.

After a stellar run competing in her native China, she made a successful ONE Championship debut with an impressive knockout of April Osenio in December 2017. This victory led to a shot at the inaugural ONE Women’s Strawweight MMA World Title, which she seized with yet another knockout to make history as China’s first-ever MMA World Champion in 2018.