Angela Lee offers a possible explanation on why Xiong Jing Nan failed to finish her recent fights

According to Angela Lee, ONE women’s strawweight queen Xiong Jing Nan hasn’t been the same fighter since she beat her in their rematch at ONE: Century Part 1 in 2019.

While ‘The Panda’ has managed to successfully defend her world title three times since their last encounter, it wasn’t exactly up to her usual standards. Xiong turned back challengers Tiffany Teo, Michelle Nicolini and, in her last outing, Ayaka Miura, in convincing but rather anti-climactic unanimous decision wins.

As far as Angela Lee sees it, the once feared killer in the 125-pound ranks has now lost her edge. “The Panda’, after all, sent shivers down her opponents’ spines when she steamrolled her way to the top of the division.

The 34-year-old Sanda specialist rarely needed the judges' scorecards as she finished four of her first five fights inside the circle. The biggest feather in her cap, of course, came when she stopped the ‘Unstoppable’ in their first encounter, punishing her with brutal shots to the body for the TKO finish.

Xiong still has an impressive 50 percent finishing rate in her ONE Championship career, an average that has since been watered down by her previous three outcomes. That said, Angela Lee is extremely confident heading into her trilogy bout with ‘The Panda’ later today inside the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

The pair will settle their differences in the headliner of ONE on Prime Video 2 for Xiong’s gold strap.

In an interview with ONE Championship, the Singaporean-American shared her perceptions about Xiong’s supposed weakened state as of late. Lee said:

“She's a stand-up fighter, and she likes to touch people up on the feet and dance around. She usually tries to ramp up and tries to take people out, but sometimes she doesn't get there. So I think part of it has to do with her style.”

Moreover, Angela Lee doubled down on her earlier comments about Xiong losing her killer instinct. She added:

“I mean, she is getting older as well. But like I said, sometimes when you're a champion for a very long time, you get to this point where you kind of lose your hunger. Instead of proving to everyone that you're the best of the best in the world, you're just fighting not to lose. And I think that's what you saw in the last previous fights from Xiong.”

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Angela Lee fires back at critics who says she can’t take a body shot

Like Xiong, Lee also laid waste to the competition on her way to becoming the undisputed ONE women’s atomweight world champion.

The United MMA and Evolve MMA star was simply a cut above the rest. However, Xiong took away that aura of invincibility when she cracked her with a thudding body shot that led to her demise in their first fight.

Angela Lee once again looked human in her last world title defense against Stamp Fairtex. The Thai star also landed a body shot that sent her reeling in retreat. Now, some pundits are questioning if they found a chink in Lee’s impenetrable armor.

'Unstoppable' addressed this concern during the ONE on Prime Video 2 press conference:

“I’d like to see them try to take a body shot. I reviewed the tape with my team and we have seen that it was an area that was exposed in previous fights. And so we definitely worked to correct that in this fight camp and we’re worked on some counters for the body shots as well so I’m looking forward to defending some body shots, maybe?”