Were smelling salts used to wake up Yan Xiaonan at UFC 300 like Joe Rogan claimed? The fighter's explanation and an expert's opinion

Yan Xiaonan fell short in her title shot against UFC women's strawweight champion Zhang Weili at UFC 300 in April 2024. Speculation abounded that Xiaonan's corner had illegally woken her up after she'd supposedly been choked into a semi-conscious state. 'Fury' and some MMA experts later clarified that smelling salts were not used by her corner during the fight.

Xiaonan was caught in a rear-naked choke by Zhang and appeared to be almost choked unconscious around the time the buzzer signaled the end of round one. However, she managed to make it to her corner. The UFC commentary team indicated that the cutman had asked Xiaonan's cornermen whether they wanted him to "wake her up" before round two.

Joe Rogan questioned whether smelling salts were used, and he and Daniel Cormier both noted that such an action would be illegal. Ultimately, Xiaonan lost the fight via unanimous decision and Zhang retained her strawweight belt.

On The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Yan Xiaonan asserted that she didn't use smelling salts. Explaining the situation, Xiaonan stated:

"At the last second, when the ring bell, I was almost out, just like somebody almost knocked me out, but I still recognized that I need to stand up immediately and try my best to walk to my corner to show that the fight is still able to continue."

She added:

"I didn't notice what the cutman was doing between the rounds because when I went back to my corner, I was still recovering from the choke ... The smelling salt thing makes no sense. Nobody put those to let me smell that. Nobody used those things to wake me up."

Watch Yan Xiaonan discuss the topic below (4:54, 10:00, and 11:30):

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Former MMA referee John McCarthy clears up cutman's actions in Yan Xiaonan's corner

MMA referee-turned-analyst John McCarthy clarified the situation involving Yan Xiaonan.

Emphasizing that the UFC commentators misperceived the cutman's verbal question and the technique used in the corner, he opined that Xiaonan and her corner didn't break any rules:

"There were no smelling salts used in the Zhang vs Xiaonan fight... The Cutman (Rudy Hernandez) used a technique often seen in boxing where you push at the base of the nose, in and up to create pain. It makes the brain respond to the pressure of the push..."

In response to an X user questioning whether cutmen were permitted to carry smelling salts for fights, McCarthy wrote on X:

"No they don’t because they are illegal to use during the fight."

Following her points defeat against Zhang Weili at UFC 300 last April, Yan Xiaonan returned to the win column by outpointing Tabatha Ricci in November 2024. She is now scheduled to take on Virna Jandiroba at UFC 314 this weekend.