Raphael Marinho of Combate reported last week and the UFC has now confirmed that Karolina Kowalkiewicz vs Xiaonan Yan has been added to UFC on ESPN+ 26 Feb. 22 at Spark Arena in Auckland, New Zealand. This fight will be at Strawweight. Karolina is a former Strawweight title contender who is now a gatekeeper. She is 34 years old from Lodz, Poland. Her record is 12-5 and 5-5 in the UFC. She is on a three fight losing streak. Karolina is a points fighter who probably isn't quick enough to beat anyone decent anymore. After her recent loss to Alexa Grasso, Karolina admitted that retirement is in the near future. In this fight, Karolina is a gatekeeper. Yan is 30 years old from Shenyang, China. Her record is 11-1-1NC and 4-0 in the UFC. All of her wins have been by unanimous decision. I don't think she has been dominant but she's been winning. Karolina is currently ranked #14. And Yan is just outside the top 15. So if she wins this fight, she will be ranked. Though Karolina has slowed down, I think she is still a step up in competition level for Yan. We'll see how she does.
Frank.., I see ya winning, but we will see what happens when they fight.
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