Women’s Strawweights
Xiaocan Feng (10-2, 0-0 UFC) vs. Ming Shi (16-5, 0-0 UFC)This “Road to UFC” women’s strawweight final features Feng, who might be the best prospect of the tournament regardless of gender. Admittedly, a lot of that is still more due to potential than production, but Feng has a long and lanky frame for the division that can cause a lot of problems, and the hope is that she will gain some horsepower—along with general efficiency as a fighter—as she ages and gains experience. Still 22 years old for a few more weeks, Feng ran through the overmatched Kiran Singh on the mat before scoring her second win against Miki Motono within the course of 10 months. While she was able to armbar Motono prior to her entrance into the “Road to UFC” tournament, their rematch saw her win a slow-paced decision that mostly took place on the feet. To cap off the tournament, Feng faces a Chinese countrywoman in Shi, who has been a fun overachiever during the course of the competition. Shi comes from a catch-wrestling background that shows up at points, but her general lack of size and strength has forced her to make hay as a scrappy striker. She coasted to a win over Ye Dam Seo that included an absolutely brutal near-knockout thanks to a knee, but she was much luckier to get ruled the victor against Huaxiang Dong to find herself in this spot. Feng can sometimes be a bit passive, so there’s a chance Shi could eke out a win through moxie and aggression, but it seems likelier that she just gets physically overwhelmed at some point. The pick is Feng via second-round stoppage.
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