Xu Yan (Chinese: 徐琰; pinyin: Xǔ Yán; born November 22, 1987) is a Chinese Sanda, kickboxer who competes in the middleweight division. A multiple time provincial and national Sanshou titlist in his home country, Xu later made the switch to Oriental rules kickboxing[broken anchor] and gained recognition fighting internationally in promotions such as Fight Code, K-1 and Shootboxing.
Career
Early career
Xu Yan began sanshou training at an early age and rose to prominence by winning provincial titles in his native Shandong three years consecutively; he won the Shandong Province Sanshou Championships at -65 kg/143 lb in 2003 and 2004 and at -70 kg/154 lb in 2005. Staying at -70 kg/154 lb, he then won the Chinese National Sanshou club Championships in 2005 and 2006, and affirmed himself as the country's top middleweight by winning a tournament held by Heroes of Legends in January 2007.[1] Fighting for the first time internationally, Xu was part of a team of sanshou fighters that challenged shoot boxing at Shoot Boxing 2007 Mu-So 2nd in Tokyo, Japan, on May 25, 2007. He lost to Kenichi Ogata via a knee to the body knockout in the third round, the first loss of his professional career.[2] In September 2007, he won the IFB International Sanda Tournament in Guangzhou, China, defeating Muay Thai stylist Akarn Sannaha by decision in the final. A month later on October 13, 2007, Xu beat Joey Pagliuso by unanimous decision in Shenzhen, China, using his height and reach advantage to outpoint the American.[3]
Xu won a second Legend of Heroes tournament in December 2008 before losing a unanimous decision to Vuyisile Colossa in the same promotion in Beijing, China on January 18, 2009. Making the foray into Oriental rules kickboxing, he debuted in K-1 on March 20, 2009, at K-1 Award & MAX Korea 2009 in Seoul, South Korea where he lost to Kim Se-Ki by technical knockout after being dropped twice in the second round.[4][5] On May 31, 2009, he competed in the four man middleweight tournament at The Challenger event held at The Venetian Macao in Macau. After beating Keiji Ozaki by unanimous decision in the semi-finals, he lost to Heung Pak-Wing by first-round knockout in the final.[6]
After beginning the year with wins over Ben Barwise and Lewis Corris, Xu was given the toughest test of his career in the form of Buakaw Por. Pramuk in a Wu Lin Feng promoted event at Henan Provincial Stadium in Zhengzhou, China on June 19, 2010. Xu was outfought and lost on points. He also received a controversial count by the referee in round two after going down from a low blow.[11][12][13] He fought and beat another Thai in his next outing, outpointingMalaipet Sasiprapa at Legends of Heroes: Muaythai vs. Kung Fu at the Arena of Stars in Pahang, Malaysia on October 9, 2010.[14][15] In his second appearance on US soil, Xu was scheduled to fight Raul Rodriguez at Wu Lin Feng: Battle of Las Vegas II on November 13, 2010, in Las Vegas but a change occurred as Rodriguez was replaced by Shane Oblonsky.[16] He lost via unanimous decision.[17] Three weeks later, Xu Yan was drafted into the 2010 edition of the King's Cup Muay Thai tournament as one of three replacement fighters.[18] Going down in Bangkok, Thailand on December 5, 2010, Xu was eliminated at the quarter-finals when he lost to Alexander Vogel on points.[19]
Fight Code tournaments
On March 12, 2011, Xu faced Sudsakorn Sor Klinmee on the Oktagon 2011 card in Milan, Italy. Round one was close but Sudsakorn asserted his dominance early on with a throw and only got better in the second. Xu faded in round three and received a somewhat controversial standing eight count before losing the decision.[20][21] He put a halt to his three-fight losing streak five months later when he knocked out Adil Abbas at a Legends of Heroes event in Nanchang, China before returning to Europe to compete for the Fight Code promotion and entered into the organization's 2011 Dragons Series -70 kg/154 lb tournament at the quarter-finals stage when he took the place of Dzhabar Askerov who withdrew due to scheduling conflicts.[22][23] He lost to Abdallah Mabel via split decision on October 15, 2011, in Marseille, France[24][25] but it later emerged that the French sporting commission had not allowed Fight Code's complete rule set just hours before the event and so a rematch was set for Geneva, Switzerland on November 26, 2011.[26][27] Three weeks before the rematch, Xu suffered a first-round KO loss to Lamsongkram Chuwattana in Changsha, China. Against Mabel, Xu Yan rallied back in round three but the Frenchman dominated the first two and took the unanimous judges' decision.[28]
K-1 tournaments
He stopped another three-fight skid with a win over Yuya Yamamoto at Krush.16 in Tokyo on February 17, 2012. Xu got off to a good start, landing against the defensively flawed Yamamoto and took over in the second by scoring three knockdowns and earning him the TKO victory.[29] Xu Yan outpointed Quinton Arendse on a Legends of Heroes show in his native country on April 21, 2012[30] before making a return to K-1 after an almost three-year absence to compete in the K-1 World MAX 2012 World Championship Tournament. At the K-1 World MAX 2012 World Championship Tournament Final 16 in Madrid, Spain on May 27, 2012, he fought Yasuhiro Kido in the tournament's opening stage. The fight got off to a rather lackluster start and had the crowd booing at one point in the first round before Xu fell victim to Kido's patented spinning backfist late in the third.[31][32][33]
Xu Yan scored a first-round knockout over Ton Kunchat at Combat Renaissance in Hong Kong on September 17, 2013.
He defeated Mike Zambidis by unanimous decision, dropping him in rounds one and two, at Hero Legends in Jinan, China on December 3, 2014.[36][37]
Hero Legends title reign
After winning the Hero Legends title, Yan fought with the organization five more times in non-title bouts. In May 2014, he fought Yoshihiro Sato to a draw. A year later, he knocked out Kraisorn Singmamor, and a month after this fight, he scored a TKO win over Yodpichai SorSaksri. In July 2015, he fought twice in the span of two weeks, he won a unanimous decision against Munguntsooj Nandin-Erdene and defeated Ryota Kojima by first round TKO. A month later, he stepped in on short notice to replace Yodsanklai Fairtex against Giorgio Petrosyan, with Hero Legends making the fight a title bout. Petrosyan won the fight by knockout, after dropping Yan by a knee in the third round.[38]
Championships and awards
Kickboxing
The Challenger
The Challenger -70 kg/154 lb Tournament Runner-up
Hero Legends
Hero Legends World -70 kg/154 lb Championship (1 Time)
