Julia Polastri knocks out Xiong Jingnan with head kick at UFC Shanghai

"

SHANGHAI, CHINA - AUGUST 29: Julia Polastri of Brazil knocks out Xiong Jingnan of China in a strawweight fight during the UFC Fight Night event at SPD Bank Oriental Sports Center on August 29, 2026 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC) Julia Polastri just scored the highlight of her career. On Saturday, Polastri took on Xiong Jingnan on the prelims of the UFC Shanghai card, and it didn’t take long for the Brazilian to flatten the former ONE Championship flyweight queen, brutally knocking Xiong out with a first-round head kick. Check out Polastri’s sick highlight-reel KO below. Julia Polastri just turned off Xiong Jingnan with a vicious headkick at #UFCShanghai! 😱 pic.twitter.com/aSIHJXQgJB — MMA Fighting (@MMAFighting) August 29, 2026 Polastri and Xiong came out exchanging right away, with “Psycho” having some success backing “The Panda” up early on. Xiong was comfortable staying in the pocket and exchanging with Polastri, but once she was against the fence, that backfired as Polastri threw a right hand into a right head kick that landed flush on Xiong, knocking her out cold before she hit the canvas. The win is a nice rebound for Polastri, who lost to Talita Alencar in April. Xiong, meanwhile, now drops to 0-2 in the UFC. Unfortunately for Polastri, the incredible knockout is ineligible to earn her a Performance bonus because both she and Xiong missed weight for this bout.

"

Julia Polastri scored one of the women's MMA knockouts of the year with a perfect head kick of Xiong Jingnan at UFC Shanghai.

"

Julia Polastri scores unreal KO at UFC Shanghai