Michelle Nicolini Gunning For Angela Lee’s Belt After Beating Xiong Jing Nan

On Friday, September 3 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, Xiong Jing Nan will defend her strawweight title against Michelle Nicolini in the main event of ONE: Empower.

Both athletes know this will be one of their toughest tests to date, and despite the mutual respect between the two, each expects to finish the other before the final bell sounds.

“Here’s the thing: if you want to be a better version of yourself, you have to fight more athletes, fight more masters. That’s the only way to find out your own weaknesses,” said Xiong, who looks to retain her title for the fifth time.

“I know she was a fantastic grappler, a master of jiu-jitsu. I want to have a conversation with her, to learn from her. I see her as a good BJJ teacher, but now we have come to this fight as opponents.”

Nicolini, meanwhile, will be taking on a world champion in the cage for the second consecutive outing, following her fight with Angela Lee.

The Brazilian heroine defeated Lee in 2019 by way of unanimous decision. However, that bout was contested at strawweight with no belt on the line.

Still, the victory over Lee was impressive, and the IBJJF Hall of Fame member knows that this pivotal bout with Xiong will set her up for a possible chance at becoming a two-division world champion down the line.

“I would like to thank Xiong Jing Nan, and like she said if we want to be the best, we have to fight with the best. I’m very honored to be fighting with her,” said Nicolini.

While Xiong has accumulated a large amount of experience, holding a professional MMA record of 15-2, Nicolini remains relatively young in the world of MMA with a record of 6-2.

Nonetheless, her learning curve has been ultimately shallow as she has a wealth of grappling experience to lean on.

“[Michelle is] probably the best grappler and BJJ fighter in my title defending history. Probably better than Angela Lee,” Xiong declared.

“As high level a fighter as me or Michelle, everyone is well rounded. I wouldn't call her just a grappler. To be ready to fight me she has to be prepared for my boxing and kickboxing, for sure. So I’m ready to face any kind of threat from her.”

While Xiong will look to continue her string of title defenses, Nicolini will have the chance to finish off her unprecedented dash to the top before setting her sights on a new challenge--with grand designs to achieve rare champ-champ status.

“Of course, I’d love to have a fight with someone at [atomweight,]” Nicolini teased.

“I think I’m the best female grappler in ONE Championship at the moment. It could be a good challenge for me to go down to atomweight to challenge Angela Lee, why not?”