“She is definitely in the top-three pound-for-pound best female fighters” - Siyar Bahadurzada has high praise for star pupil Xiong Jing Nan

Siyar Bahadurzada is positive that his star pupil, ‘The Panda’ Xiong Jing Nan, will leave the Circle this Friday, January 14 with her ONE women’s strawweight world title.

The Evolve MMA head coach has worked closely with the Chinese MMA world champion over the past two years.

Ahead of Xiong’s main event showdown versus Ayaka ‘Zombie’ Miura at ONE: Heavy Hitters, the 37-year-old martial artist told ONE Championship that he’s only seen a few talents akin to ‘The Panda’ when it comes to her will to fight, all-round arsenal and fight IQ.

Siyar Bahadurzada said:

“On my list, she is definitely in the top three pound-for-pound best female fighters. Jing Nan was a boxer, but now I see her as a mixed martial artist. She can wrestle, she can grapple, she can ground-and-pound, she can kick – she can do it all.”

Describing what the key to success will be for Jing Nan, he further said:

“And the key to Jing Nan’s success to overcome her opponents no matter what, whether they’re wrestlers, grapplers, or strikers, is that she has a plan and knows how to implement that plan when she fights. She has a very, very high fight IQ.”

Siyar Bahadurzada understands what it takes to be a world champion, having earned an MMA world championship belt in Shooto.

The eagle-eyed coach has seen plenty of athletes grow and evolve into world champions. However, he says none can quite match Xiong’s abilities to pick up new skills and improve on them in a short period.

He expects Xiong to shine and defend her world title successfully once again for a record-breaking sixth time.

“Jing Nan is going to impose her will and impose her game, which is to take Miura out as fast as possible... She has cleared almost the entire strawweight division. The sky is the limit for her."

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Siyar Bahadurzada suggests it's best to avoid Miura’s ‘Ayaka Lock’

Throughout his 33-fight resume, the Singaporean-based coach has earned plenty of finishes on the canvas via chokes and even a heel hook. He has come across several judoka specialists too during his time as a professional MMA fighter.

Xiong is set to go up against a judoka specialist who has forced six of her opponents to tap to the scarf-hold Americana. The move is now dubbed the ‘Ayaka Lock’.

Siyar Bahadurzada views the submission, which forces an opponent’s elbow joint to hyper-extend, as a good move. However, he has prepared Xiong to deal with it should the strawweight queen get entangled on the canvas against the Japanese star.

Siyar Bahadurzada said:

“Miura has a good move – the one move that she gets everybody with – so there are some things that I have changed for Jing Nan’s training so she will be aware of it, but more than that she shouldn’t get in that position.

“There are ways you can get out of it but also ways you can avoid it, so it’s better to avoid it than cure it.”