Yan Xiaonan knew she was a better striker than Mackenzie Dern but she still had to survive some seriously scary moments on the ground to secure a majority decision win in the UFC Vegas 61 main event.
The Chinese strawweight essentially won every exchange with Dern on the feet, which allowed her to rack up a lot of points on the scorecards. She also had to endure plenty of time on the ground with Dern, particularly in rounds 2 and 5 where it appeared Yan might get caught in a submission from the multi-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu champion.
During each grappling exchange, Yan survived and then punished Dern on the feet for failing to put her away. When the fight was over, the judges scored the contest 48-47, 48-47 and 47-47 with Yan getting the nod by majority decision.
” I know that her jiu jitsu skills are amazing,” Yan stated. “She’s a black belt, I’m a white belt but I know what I should expect in this fight. I trained so hard, four times, five times [a day] on grappling during this camp. I know I can make it. I can do this.
” I didn’t spend a lot of time training on striking, because I knew that if I fight standing, it would be a win for me.
Yan displayed speed and power with her strikes. She quickly established her dominance at the feet, while Dern was kept away to try to end her deadly submission game. Yan was also throwing a nasty side kick that was attacking Dern’s lead leg and chopping away at her knee.
While Dern tried her hardest to avoid any damage to her feet, it was difficult for her to perform a dominant grappling move. Dern lost her first round, but Dern’s coaches said she was sure of it. They also confirmed that there would be opportunities to make a comeback.
Dern sought to shift the momentum in her favor as she dragged Yan to the canvas while holding onto a leg to search for a submission. Dern was able to grab the omo plat and quickly made it into an arm triangle choke.
Dern opted to release the choke to then move into the mount, which forced Yan to roll and give up her back. That led to a slew of punches coming from Dern as she looked to open up Yan’s defense to search for a rear-naked choke as well as a late armbar attempt.
Yan made it through the round to get her feet restarted.
With Dern desperate to get the fight back down to the ground, Yan seized on the opening to get more creative with her strikes. Yan uncorked a monstrous left hook that blasted Dern and put her on wobbly legs for a moment.
Yan then followed with an overhand punch that clubbed Dern as she tried to get back in the fight.
As time ticked away, Yan’s confidence was growing as she continued shrugging off Dern’s grappling attempts and then punishing her on the feet. Yan was consistently connecting with her best punches while Dern was just throwing strikes on a wing and a prayer.
At the urging of her coaches going into the final round with the scorecards likely working against her, Dern wasted no time looking for a takedown to bring Yan into her world on the ground. Dern took the back as she began hammering away with punches to try and force Yan to make a mistake so she could potentially secure a late submission
Dern was dominant while controlling Yan in the grappling positions but she just couldn’t get the finish despite her best efforts. Yan managed to slip free of one more armbar and was able to jump back up while throwing her arms in the air.
Yan is back on track following two defeats in succession. She continues to be a threat for top fighters around the globe at 115 pound, while Dern experiences another setback as she tries to become champion of the UFC.
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