{"id":84474,"date":"2022-10-02T07:01:21","date_gmt":"2022-10-02T07:01:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/mark-zuckerberg-watches-as-yan-xiaonans-submission-defense-shines-in-impressive-win\/"},"modified":"2022-10-02T07:01:21","modified_gmt":"2022-10-02T07:01:21","slug":"mark-zuckerberg-watches-as-yan-xiaonans-submission-defense-shines-in-impressive-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/mark-zuckerberg-watches-as-yan-xiaonans-submission-defense-shines-in-impressive-win\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Zuckerberg watches as Yan Xiaonan’s submission defense shines in impressive win"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Yan Xiaonan moves to 16-3 and closer to a strawweight title shot after her win over Mackenzie Dern on Saturday. (Photo by Jeff Bottari\/Zuffa LLC)<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

Mackenzie Dern is one of the most decorated jiu-jitsu artists ever to compete in the UFC, and that ability may yet lift her to a world championship.<\/p>\n

But it was Yan Xiaonan’s ability to fight off Dern’s dogged submission attempts, particularly in Rounds 2 and 5, that boosted her a step closer to a championship shot. Yan won a majority decision Saturday at Apex in Las Vegas by scores of 48-47 twice and 47-47, with judge Mike Bell giving Dern a 10-8 in the fifth to account for the draw. Yahoo Sports had it 48-47 for Yan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know her jiu-jitsu is amazing,\u201d said Yan, who entered the bout ranked sixth at strawweight, one spot behind Dern.<\/p>\n

But Yan was equally amazing on a card fought without media and fans other than Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, his wife, Priscilla Chan and some Facebook employees. Yan was the underdog but she came into the bout with a decided striking edge and used her strikes to keep Dern off balance for the most part.<\/p>\n

Dern took the fight to the ground for a long stretch at the end of the second and for a huge part of the final round, when coach Jason Parillo told her she was behind and needed to finish. Dern did exactly what Parillo asked, blazing out of the corner and into the line of fire to open the fifth.<\/p>\n

It paid off when Dern took Yan down, but try as she might, she couldn’t get the finish. That was due, Team Alpha Male coach Urijah Faber said, to a steady year of grappling work.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe put in so much work over the last year, [and] she moved specifically to [Team Alpha Male] to work on grappling,\u201d Faber told Yahoo Sports. \u201cHer fighting Dern was n’t our choice, but thank goodness she come a whole year in advance. We needed that entire time.\u201d<\/p>\n

UFC president Dana White raved about not only Yan’s performance, but also Dern’s. But he conceded he would have had a hard time believing Yan would have made it to the finish had he known beforehand that she’d spend so much time on the ground with Dern.<\/p>\n

That she did earned a huge respect from White.<\/p>\n