5 ONE Championship champions vs. UFC champions: who wins?
ONE Championship has become a force to be reckoned with in the fight business and it's hard to deny this fact anymore.
While the UFC has been establishing itself as the 'major league' in MMA for almost thirty years now, ONE has been putting Asian MMA on the map. Proudly bringing martial arts back to the continent where it came from, the Singapore-based promotion now houses some of the greatest martial artists in the world.
2021 saw the dominance of the Asian promotion over its fellow fight leagues. Former UFC champions and standouts fell to ONE Championship fighters upon entering the ONE Circle. Famous names like Eddie Alvarez, Sage Northcutt, Yushin Okami, and Demetrious Johnson all had a hard time maintaining winning streaks in ONE Championship.
Today, we look at how the current UFC champions would fair if ever they entered the Circle and faced ONE Championship champions.The match-ups will done be according to weight as ONE weight classes are 10 pounds above the UFC's.
We know these are largely dream matches as cross-promotional champion vs. champion matches are relics of the past. Still, we can dream right?
#5. ONE Championship strawweight world champion Xiong Jing Nan vs. UFC flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko
ONE Championship strawweight champ 'The Panda Bear' Xiong Jing Nan is the first MMA world champion to come from China. Long before Zhang Weili became the first Chinese UFC champion, Xiong was already raising the flag for her country.
The current ONE strawweight queen, who fights on January 14 at ONE: Heavy Hitters, matches well with UFC flyweight champion Valentina 'Bullet' Shevchenko.
Xiong is like a bigger, more powerful Jessica Andrade. Her lethal boxer/brawler style and innate power has overwhelmed even the most technical fighters around. We've seen 'Bullet' experience difficulties against powerful strikers like former bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes.
Just like for Jessica Andrade and many others, however, Shevnchenko is just too much to handle. The dominant UFC champion is not just great in every area of MMA, she's almost peerless. From boxing to Muay Thai to wrestling to judo, no one comes close at 125 pounds. Her technique, precision and fight IQ are just head-and-shoulders above everyone else.
Xiong's power and aggression might be able to pose some problems and surprise Shevchenko early on, but this one's not going to be close. Shevchenko takes the fight within 4 rounds.
Winner: Shevchenko