Lin Heqin will aim for a world title fight with Angela Lee should she get past Itsuki Hirata 

Lin Heqin enters her ONE on Prime Video 1 showdown with Itsuki Hirata with an impressive record of 15-3-1 with her only loss inside the circle coming against ‘The Indian Tigress’ Ritu Phogat.

In an interview with MMA Mania, Lin gave her thoughts on the upcoming contest with Hirata. ‘Fighting Sister’ acknowledged ‘Android 18’s’ strong grappling and judo skills but was not as complimentary of the young star’s striking game.

“I believe that she will play her own style,” Lin said of Hirata. “I’m not so impressed with her striking, actually. I believe with that kind of a strong judo style, she will try to push me on the cage and use her wrestling as soon as possible. I will be ready for that and I hope more for a striking game to happen on fight night.”

When asked about what the future brings should she score a win on August 26, Lin said she would leave that up to the promotion, but has every intention of calling out the reigning atomweight world champion, Angela Lee.

“It’s not my call [on what would happen after], it’s up to the promotion,” she concluded. “But I will definitely call out Angela Lee if I take this victory, right after in the cage. So whether I’m gonna have the chance or not, I will do that.”

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Lin Heqin won the 2017 World MMA Championships as an amateur

Little may be known about Lin Heqin outside of China, but in her home country, ‘Fighting Sister’ is practically a celebrity. In 2017, she represented her country as an amateur in the WMMAA’s 2017 World MMA Championships. The organization regularly held tournaments from 2012 to 2018, when they merged with the IMMAF.

Lin won her division in the tournament, which was held at Daulet Arena in Astana, Kazakhstan. The event also featured current interim heavyweight world champion Anatoly Malykhin.

"So excited to win women's first gold in World MMA Championships' history, it's my best wish to make a small contribution to my mother nation, thank you all for your encouragement and support," said Lin while speaking to China Youth News following her win.

Speaking about the victory, Lin revealed that growing up she wanted to become a police officer and felt that MMA training would help her along the way.

"I dreamed about becoming a policewoman since childhood, and I used to believe that I could make one if I keep with martial arts training.”

Since her win in the tournament, Lin Heqin has collected a 7-1 record, which includes six straight wins. Heqin is certainly fortunate to have stuck with MMA and could very well be one big win away from a world title opportunity.