Aung La N Sang believes weight class is a huge factor in Xiong-Lee trilogy

According to former two-division ONE world champion Aung La N Sang, Xiong Jing Nan’s familiarity with the women’s strawweight division will be her key to victory against Angela Lee.

‘The Panda’ has deflected challengers left and right since winning the inaugural ONE women’s strawweight world title against Tiffany Teo in 2018.

Xiong will be gunning for her seventh consecutive world title defense against a vindictive Lee in the main event of the massive ONE on Prime Video 2 card this weekend, September 30, at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

The third and perhaps final installment of the epic Xiong-Lee saga will be the biggest one yet, as it headlines ONE’s second foray into US prime time this year, via Amazon Prime Video.

Aung La N Sang, who’s no stranger to fights of this magnitude, discerned both fighters’ chances in arguably the biggest trilogy in women’s MMA history.

While Lee avenged her previous loss to Xiong the last time they met, ‘The Burmese Phyton’ argued why the Chinese megastar will be the one with her hand raised by the end of the night. He told ONE:

“I think Xiong Jing Nan’s going to be able to defend her submissions, defend the takedown, and she already knows how to beat Angela Lee, so I’m leaning toward Xiong Jing Nan in this match.”

Furthermore, the Burmese-American noted that the rubber match takes place at 125 lbs, where Xiong has yet to taste defeat.

The last time Lee tried to take over the weight class, she got stomped by ‘The Panda’ in the fifth round with merciless strikes to the body. Aung believes history will repeat itself this Friday by saying:

“If it was an atomweight matchup, I would think otherwise. But for strawweight, I think Xiong Jing Nan’s stronger.”

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Aung La N Sang vows to bring the best version of himself in return to the circle

Like Xiong and Lee, Aung La N Sang hopes to return to the title picture in his own division by stringing along a few wins.

Things haven’t really gone Aung’s way since losing both the middleweight and light heavyweight world titles to reigning dual world champion Reinier de Ridder.

The 37-year-old admitted that he wasn’t himself in the disappointing loss to Vitaly Bigdash at ONE: Full Circle this past February.

As Aung La N Sang awaits his next challenge, he’s back in the gym making sure that all bases are covered in training.

He told ONE in a previous interview:

“It's going to be the best performance of my life. I'm going to put in the hardest camp, the smartest camp. I'm going to make sure I'm 100% the best version of myself for this one. You're only as good as your last bout and my last bout, I was not happy at all with my performance.”