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On the fast track to that goal after winning her first six UFC bouts, the Liaoning native hit a roadblock in her last two fights, as she was stopped by current strawweight champion Carla Esparza and then lost a split decision to fellow contender Marina Rodriguez. Now she needs to right her ship by beating Dern.
“She is one of the best grapplers in the division, a black belt in jiu-jitsu, so I think this is a classic striker versus grappler matchup, and I think our fight will let people know who the better MMA fighter is,” said Yan. “This is the biggest challenge to me so far because I lost to Marina Rodriguez. She lost to Marina as well, so if I can win over Mackenzie, that means that I come back to being a contender.”
FREE FIGHTS: Dern vs Nunes | Yan vs Kowalkiewicz
Yan is being modest, as she already sits in the number six spot in the 115-pound rankings, a slot below Dern, which means a win could put the 33-year-old back in the title conversation, something that was once a dream when the longtime Sanda practitioner saw Zhang for the first time and then began to train in an MMA gym.
By 2017, Yan had put together a 9-1, 1 NC record and she got the call to the UFC, where she became the first Chinese woman signed by the promotion.