Yan Xiaonan got the better of Claudia Gadelha tonight on the scorecards at UFC Fight Night 182.
Round One:
Early exchange of punches. Xiaonan with a body punch. Leg kick for Xiaonan. Punch from her. Now an inside leg kick.
Xiaonan goes for another punch upstairs, but gets caught herself and it sends her off-balance, backing up to the cage. Gadelha moves in and is able to work a takedown.
Nice start for Gadelha. She moves into half guard as Xiaonan gets her back against the cage. Gadelha tries to cinch up her legs, but Xiaonan does well to stand back up.
Gadelha remains in the clinch against the cage. Xiaonan stays upright as Gadelha works another takedown attempt. Gadelha not giving up on trying to get her to the mat though. Knees for Xiaonan and Gadelha lands one too.
More knees to the leg from Xiaonan as she continues to be pressed up against the cage. Gadelha not really getting much going from the position and the ref splits them apart.
Body punch for Xiaonan. Now a leg kick, but Gadelha catches it and gets another takedown. Gadelha in Xiaonan’s guard, but from her back it’s the Chinese fighter who is working hard with strikes. Gadelha does land a nice elbow of her own, but Xiaonan landed more elbows there before the round ended.
Round Two:
Xiaonan throwing punches out and a kick, without finding the target. Punch from Xiaonan and Gadelha tries to land on the counter.
Xiaonan with a one-two. she lands again. Now a crisp jab. A right lands and a left, while Gadelha also scored with a counter inbetween.
Side kick to the head attempted by Xiaonan. Xiaonan working nicely behind the jab now from range. Now a one-two again from her. Gadelha seems a bit unsure what to do here. She tries to come forward and throw a punch, but eats a counter.
Both ladies land a punch apiece. Inside leg kick from Xiaonan and Gadelha fires back a one-two of her own.
Both throw and miss, but then Gadelha lands a looping left. Now a body punch for Gadelha. She unleashes again, but Xiaonan steps away and then returns with a counter that lands.
Hook for Xiaonan. Jab still effective for her too. Spinning backfist from Xiaonan and a punch in return from Gadelha.
Gadelha goes into the clinch and moves Xiaonan over to the cage, but the round ends as she’s landing a knee.
Round Three:
Right hand for Gadelha. Now one from Xiaonan. Gadelha into the clinch against the cage. They exchange a knee each.
Xiaonan doing a nice job of preventing the takedown attempts here.
Xiaonan able to get space to punch her way out of the clinch and moves back to the center of the Octagon.
Gadelha attempts a takedown and Xiaonan stuffs it. Solid right hand from Xiaonan. Now an elbow.
Xiaonan back to working that nice straight jab while circling around her opponent. However, Gadelha does manage to track her down and get back into the clinch against the cage.
Xiaonan working punches to the head while Gadelha has double underhooks but not doing much. Xiaonan reverses the clinch position, but it’s not long before Gadelha returns the favor.
Again Gadelha finding it a struggle to get anything going from this position and the ref separates them.
Both land a jab at the same time. Jab for Xiaonan. Gadelha with a right. One-two for Xiaonan who is closing out the fight looking the more active striker.
Decision:
Gadelha got her ground game going to an extent in the opening round, but even then Xiaonan was staying busy with strikes from her back, and in the second and third rounds she continued to be more active offensively, while the Brazilian lacked the same competitive spark and rightly loses out by unanimous decision (29-28 x3).
