Daniel Cormier thinks Yan Xiaonan should be next for UFC strawweight champion Zhang Weili.
After retaining her title in a dominant performance against Amanda Lemos in this past Saturday’s UFC 292 co-headliner at TD Garden in Boston, Weili (24-3 MMA, 8-2 UFC) said she’d be open to facing Xiaonan or Tatiana Suarez next.
Both Xiaonan (15-3 MMA, 8-2 UFC) and Suarez are coming off finishes of former champ Jessica Andrade. But, with the UFC rumored to make it’s return to China at the end of the year, Cormier says they can’t miss out on having an all China headliner between Weili and Xiaonan.
“Even though I love Tatiana, she’s a wrestler. Zhang Weili calling her out is surprising to me because she knows that Yan Xiaonan has won what she has won and she knows that Yan Xiaonan is Chinese, also,” Cormier said on his ESPN show “DC & RC.”
“So, the prospects of a female championship fight between two Chinese women in China is exciting to me. That’s the one I want to see, and I think they’ve got me working that Chinese fight card. If I’m going all the way to China, they better have Zhang Weili fight Yan Xiaonan.”
Undefeated Suarez (10-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) recently said she thinks she’s deserving of the next shot at Weili, but is open to taking another fight if necessary.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 292.
