ONE Championship: Chatri Sityodtong questions Xiong Jingnan’s ‘lack of killer instinct’ in win over Ayaka Miura
- China’s Xiong defends her strawweight title with unanimous decision at ONE: Heavy Hitters in Singapore
- ‘I’ve been disappointed with her lack of desire to finish in her last couple of fights,’ ONE CEO Chatri says
ONE Championship strawweight champion Xiong Jingnan toppled one of her last remaining challenges at Friday’s ONE: Heavy Hitters card in Singapore, scoring a unanimous decision win over Japan’s Ayaka Miura.
But while the Chinese champion was the picture of dominance in the fight, stopping her foe’s takedown attempts and returning fire with an onslaught of thudding punches and kicks, it wasn’t enough to impress ONE CEO and chairman Chatri Sityodtong.
Chatri could be seen cageside on the live broadcast, and did not look particularly enthralled by the action, and later questioned “The Panda” for her performance.
“She’s an incredible world champion, with incredible knockout power, and I have the utmost respect for her as human being and a martial artist,” he told a virtual post-fight media scrum from the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
“But I have to say, I’ve been disappointed with her lack of desire to finish, her lack of gameness and killer instinct in her last couple of fights.”
Xiong also had an unspectacular performance in her last outing, a unanimous decision win over Brazil’s Michelle Nicolini in September.
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In her post-fight interview with commentator Mitch Chilson, Xiong shared her disappointment that she wasn’t able to finish Miura, but promised to get back to her trademark knockouts in the future.
“Everything that happened was within my control, within my plan,” she said through her translator. “I didn’t execute the KO as I initially wanted, but it doesn’t mean I’m any less good. Perhaps I went soft on my opponent.”
“I hope you don’t think me not having a KO is the end of it,” she added. “Please look forward to my next KO.”
The victory over Miura marked Xiong’s sixth successful defense of the ONE strawweight title. She now holds victories over four of the promotion’s top-five strawweights.
“She has cleared out the entire strawweight division,” commentator Michael Schiavello said after Xiong’s victory. “[She’s] untouchable. The empress, Xiong Jing Nan has beaten everyone at strawweight.”
“Not a bruise on her tonight. She stopped every takedown attempt. She worked her hands, worked her legs, and picked apart Ayaka Miura.”
Having thwarted most of her would-be usurpers at strawweight, Xiong seems interested in dropping down to atomweight.
“Maybe atomweight [next],” she said post-fight. “Maybe, I don’t know.”
Chatri said he would speak to Xiong over her desire to challenge for the atomweight belt again, but suggested she may want to hang around at strawweight.
“We have signed several world class strawweights we haven’t announced yet,” he said. “We will be announcing in the coming weeks.”
Xiong has competed in the ONE atomweight division once before, losing to its long-reigning champion Angela Lee by fifth-round submission in October of 2019. She also holds a fifth-round TKO victory over Lee, having defended the strawweight title against the atomweight queen back earlier the same year.
Lee is currently tied up with an atomweight title defense against Stamp Fairtex, but a tiebreaking trilogy with Xiong could certainly be on the cards if the American is victorious.
