ONE Championship has decided to shut down its women’s strawweight MMA division and has released champion Xiong Jingnan.
The Bangkok Post understands Xiong has been informed of her release and wished well in her future endeavours. She was also told she would be welcomed back in future if ONE decides to reopen the division.
Her roster page on ONE’s official website has been updated to reflect her status.
The move brings an end to a title reign that had effectively been dormant for several years.
Xiong had not defended the strawweight belt since September 2022, when she beat Angela Lee by unanimous decision in Singapore to close their trilogy and record a seventh straight title defence.
Many of its leading contenders and former title challengers – including Ayaka Miura, Tiffany Teo and Meng Bo – had already moved to atomweight. Xiong herself followed that path last year, dropping down to face her Chinese compatriot Meng in March 2025. She won by unanimous decision, though she failed hydration and ultimately came in heavy for the bout.
Xiong Jingnan leaves ONE Championship with an 11-1 record in the promotion
A proposed title defence against then atomweight champion Stamp Fairtex had been scheduled for Denver in September 2024, only for Stamp to undergo surgery on a torn meniscus. The fight was never rebooked, and Stamp has still not returned to MMA since winning the title vacated by Lee in September 2023.
The 38-year-old Chinese fighter was the inaugural women’s strawweight MMA champion, claiming the belt in January 2018 with a fourth-round TKO of Tiffany Teo.
She later built a notable rivalry with Lee.
In their first meeting in March 2019, Xiong stopped Lee in the fifth round in Tokyo, only for Lee to defend her atomweight belt against Xiong later that year with a fifth-round submission in the rematch.
Xiong then won the trilogy in Singapore in 2022, beating Lee over five rounds to extend her strawweight title defence streak to seven, again dashing Lee’s hopes of becoming a two-division champ.
Xiong Jingnan and Angela Lee enjoyed a notable rivalry in ONE Championship
A fourth fight between them had once appeared inevitable, particularly with Xiong calling for another shot at the atomweight belt. But Lee retired and vacated her title in 2023 following the death of her younger sister Victoria Lee two years earlier.
Xiong fought only twice more in ONE after that.
She beat Thailand’s Nat “Wondergirl” Jaroonsak by third-round TKO in a special rules bout in September 2023, then outpointed Meng.
Xiong leaves the promotion with an 11-1 record and five wins by finish.
Her exit closes the book on ONE’s women’s strawweight MMA division as it existed for the better part of the past decade.
