Yan Xiaonan Eyes a Dern Rematch — But Denise Gomes Stands in the Way

Yan Xiaonan fights this Saturday for the first time in 16 months, and she's picked the perfect stage to do it: Shanghai, the same city where she made her UFC debut back in November 2017. The 37-year-old, ranked #4 at strawweight, meets #13 Denise Gomes in the co-main of UFC Fight Night: Nurmagomedov vs. Song, and she's not shy about what's on the line — a win here, she says, puts her one step (maybe zero steps) from another crack at the belt.

There's a wrinkle that makes her pitch more than wishful thinking. The current strawweight champion is Mackenzie Dern (17-5), and Yan already owns a win over her — a majority decision in a five-round main event at the APEX in October 2022. Yan's logic is simple: she's beaten the champ once, so the math for a title shot works in her favor. She also concedes Dern has improved plenty since then, while insisting she has too.

The Road Back

The recent form is mixed. Yan challenged compatriot Zhang Weili for the undisputed title at UFC 300 in April 2024 and lost on the cards. She rebounded with a unanimous-decision win over Tabatha Ricci (now #10), then dropped a decision to Virna Jandiroba at UFC 314. Her takeaway from that Jandiroba loss, in her own words, is to stop hesitating — she got caught with a takedown because she waited too long, and she's determined not to repeat it.

Gomes is no soft touch to walk into after a long layoff. The Brazilian rolls into Shanghai on a four-fight win streak, with her most recent victory a unanimous decision over top-15 mainstay Tecia Pennington. Her overall record sits at 12-3 with seven knockouts, and she's also decisioned former title challenger Karolina Kowalkiewicz along the way. That's a live, aggressive contender climbing fast.

Which, oddly, is exactly why Yan says she likes the fight. She sees a stylistic mirror — two strikers who throw heavy and hunt the finish — and reckons Gomes' aggression will pull her own aggression to the surface. It's a confident read, but Yan has earned the confidence: she was one of the first Chinese fighters to break through in the UFC, and she takes visible pride in the wave of talent that's followed her across the ocean.

The subtext of Saturday is defense as much as offense. A loss to a fighter ranked nine spots below her would blow up any title-shot argument overnight. Yan knows it — she framed the Gomes fight as a must-win to hold her top-five spot. She also floated a bolder scenario: land a genuinely standout performance, and the next fight could be for gold. First, she has to beat the streaking Brazilian in front of her home crowd.