“Let the promotion decide” - Xiong Jing Nan willing to take on any worthy challengers next

Following her successful defense of the ONE women’s strawweight world championship against Angela Lee in the ONE on Prime Video 2 headliner, Xiong Jing Nan is already looking ahead to her next challenge. Just don’t ask ‘The Panda’ who it’s going to be.

For now, Xiong Jing Nan's unanimous decision victory over ‘Unstoppable’ appears to have closed the book on her rivalry with the atomweight queen. Asked by ONE Championship who’s next for her in the strawweight division, ‘The Panda’ gave a very direct answer: it’s not her decision to make.

“I’m actually tired of answering who’s next for me. It’s these fighters’ jobs to earn the opportunity to fight me. That would be fair for me and all the girls on the roster. Let the promotion decide who’s next. The only thing I care about is getting better and facing tougher opponents in the future.”

Even if Xiong Jing Nan wanted to answer the question, chances are she would be hard-pressed to do so.

At this point, Xiong has practically cleared out the division. No.1-ranked strawweight contender Tiffany Teo, has already lost to Xiong on two separate occasions. Now in the atomweight division, ‘No Chill’ hopes to capture the gold she couldn’t at strawweight.

However, Teo may have a rude awakening if Xiong herself opts to take a run at the atomweight division.

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Will we see Xiong Jing Nan vs. Angela Lee IV?

Is there another atomweight world title fight at this point that makes more sense? In three meetings, Xiong Jing Nan has successfully defended her world title twice. One would assume that her win over Lee at ONE on Prime Video 2 is all the justification the promotion needs to grant ‘The Panda’ another shot at Lee’s atomweight crown.

The next best option at atomweight is No. 2-ranked Ham Seo Hee. The only issue there is that while ‘Hamzzang’ has 25 wins in her MMA career, she’s only 2-0 inside the circle, with both wins coming via decision against Denice Zamboanga.

If Ham were able to secure another solid win over a top contender such as Alyona Rossohyna or Jihin Radzuan, the case could be made, but it would be hard to believe the promotion would push Lee vs. Ham when everything is practically cued up for Xiong vs. Lee IV.

There’s always the possibility of Stamp Fairtex getting her rematch with Lee as well. Stamp is coming off a solid win over Radzuan on Friday night and should she get past Anissa Meksen in their mixed-rules bout this January, Stamp could find herself the next best option for Angela Lee’s return to atomweight.