One Championship: Chinese ‘Panda’ Xiong Jingnan promises to bring Angela Lee down
- Xiong Jingnan is the champion heading into Tokyo showdown – but also the underdog
- Strawweight title-holder, who has spent a lifetime being underestimated, is ‘under control’ and ready to prove the doubters wrong again
You could be forgiven for having forgotten just who is the champion and who’s the challenger as the commotion has swirled around the lead up to Sunday’s One Championship world strawweight title fight.
The giveaway has been the times when Xiong “Panda” Jingnan has carried her championship belt over her shoulder but they have been rare and mostly the spotlight has fallen directly on to the fighter who wants to take that belt from her – Angela “Unstoppable” Lee, the golden girl of Asian MMA.
But Xiong has spent a lifetime being underestimated and then proving people wrong and she’s been more than happy to skirt the corridors here, head down and fingers working her phone.
“I am under control,” the Chinese fighter told the Post. “I don’t get too excited before a fight. I just want to continue being who I am and focus all my passion on what happens inside the cage.”
There are 16-fights across a “One: A New Era card that promises to be a wild end to the weekend at Tokyo’s historic Ryogoku Kokugikan.