Preview: UFC Macau ‘Yan vs. Figueiredo’

Women’s Strawweights

#11 P4P | Xiaonan Yan (18-4, 8-3 UFC) vs. #10 WSW | Tabatha Ricci (11-2, 6-2 UFC)

ODDS: Yan (-205), Ricci (+170)

This should be a fun scrap, as Yan looks to hold serve and fight her way back to another strawweight title shot. Yan had a fairly clean rise through the UFC’s ranks at first, winning in her first six trips to the Octagon, but there was a sense that she would eventually hit a hard ceiling. Her entire approach was focused around a low-powered, high-volume striking game, and a lot of her victories felt more about poor performances from her opponents than Yan looking particularly impressive. Indeed, Yan eventually won her way into a fight against Carla Esparza where she got taken down and had her game completely blown apart. However, that prompted her to upend her training situation and subsequently develop into a much better fighter, looking much-improved even by her next fight against Marina Rodriguez. Yan has been a much sharper striker in terms of balancing power and volume, and she has most importantly developed some semblance of wrestling defense, which allowed her to get a big win against Mackenzie Dern in 2022. After following up the Dern win with a quick knockout of Jessica Andrade, Yan was one-half of an all-Chinese strawweight title fight against Zhang Weili at UFC 300 in April. It was both a game effort and a clear demonstration that for all of Yan’s improvements, she is neither defensively bulletproof nor an outstanding athlete. Yan was constantly on the verge of being finished for the first two rounds but did well to survive to the final horn, even as Zhang dominated most of the fight. Seven months later, Yan gets a chance to regroup on home soil, though this matchup against Ricci could prove to be surprisingly tough.

Ricci has her roots in a few combat sports but was still quite raw as a mixed martial artist when the UFC picked her up as a late replacement in 2021. That inexperience, along with her small size, made her UFC debut against massive flyweight Manon Fiorot a particularly cruel bit of matchmaking. Once that was out of the way, Brazil’s “Baby Shark” cut down to her natural weight class and clearly improved from fight to fight. Ricci’s first few fights back down at 115 pounds were quite focused on her wrestling and grappling. Faced with a standout submission threat in Gillian Robertson in June 2023, Ricci was able to fight behind a sharp striking game, leveraging her speed to pick apart Robertson from range despite her small frame. Ricci’s performances in the time since have further shown her adaptability, whether it’s leaning on her speed as a striker or her strength in close quarters. Her last win was an impressive bit of business, as she held her own against the fearsome clinch of Angela Hill as part of a clean decision victory in August. That versatility means it wouldn’t necessarily be a shock if Ricci could combine all of her tools to score the upset here, particularly if it involves a lot of wrestling and clinch work. However, the lean is that Yan can bring enough power and volume as a striker to both win rounds and force Ricci into a lower-output approach. The pick is Yan via decision.

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Yan vs. Figueiredo
Yan vs. Ricci
Salikhov vs. Song
Wang vs. Fernandes
Ulberg vs. Oezdemir
Zhang vs. Diaz
The Prelims