ONE Championship has decided to shutter the entire women’s strawweight division including reigning champion Xiong Jing Nan, who has been released by the promotion.
Promotion officials confirmed the news to MMA Fighting on Thursday following an initial report from the Bangkok Post.
The move officially eliminates the women’s strawweight division, though many of the top fighters from the weight class had already moved down to atomweight in recent years. In ONE, due to the organization’s weight-cutting rules, strawweight constitutes fighters competing at 125 pounds while atomweight sits at 115 pounds.
Xiong claimed the inaugural ONE women’s strawweight title back in 2018 and went onto defend the belt seven times. Her only loss in the promotion came back in 2019 when she dropped to atomweight and was submitted via rear-naked choke by then-ONE champion Angela Lee.
She had previously defeated Lee at strawweight and then beat her again in the rubber match in 2022, which served as Xiong’s final defense of the ONE title.
Xiong fought one more time under MMA rules in 2025 where she scored a win over Meng Bo via unanimous decision, but she failed to make weight for the fight.
Now the 38-year-old veteran is a free agent with ONE deciding to close the doors on her division.
In recent years, ONE has promoted less MMA fights while adding Muay Thai, kickboxing and grappling divisions to the roster. Former ONE flyweight champion Adriano Moraes also recently secured his release and is now scheduled to face Muhammad Mokaev at the upcoming Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano card on May 16.
Read the full article here
