Yan Xiaonan Husband/Boyfriend; Marriage, Kids & More on the UFC Strawweight

Yan Xiaonan was always a fighter. The UFC female strawweight star had a knack for getting into fights when she was young, often against boys who were bigger and stronger than her. It was, therefore, natural for her to go the martial arts way, especially in a country with a rich and ancient martial arts culture like her native China.

She started her martial arts journey with the traditional Chinese martial art of Sanda, but eventually moved on to mixed martial arts in university. Today, she is among the best female fighters in the world in the world’s most competitive combat sports organization. And through her side in her journey like an anchoring rock has been her adoring husband. So without further ado, let’s jump in!

Meet Zhang Yang, Yan Xiaonan’s husband

We do not know much about Yan Xiaonan’s husband or personal life in general. It seems ‘Fury’ likes to keep her personal life private and off of the public eye. But we do know that the former title challenger is married to Zhang Yang, a fellow Chinese national. Apparently, the duo had been in a long-term relationship for some time before they got married almost a decade ago.

Of course, one cannot fight at the level she fights at and remain elite for as long as she has without the total support of their family. Which, in Xiaonan’s case would be her supportive partner. Her loving husband, Yang, a Beijing resident like herself, fits that description to the dot. While we do not know much about her husband, he does very occasionally feature on her social media. But there is no doubt that Yang’s support is essential to the 36-year-old’s success, as with any successful fighter and their loving partner.

When did Yan Xiaonan get married?

One of the details we know about Yan Xiaonan and Zhang Yang’s relationship is that the couple got married in 2016. We do not know exactly how long they had been dating at that point, but it must have been at least a few years before that. As usual, the details of their wedding ceremony remain unknown, but there is at least one interesting thing we know about it, which just tells you the type of person ‘Fury’ is.

The week she was supposed to get married, Xiaonan got an offer to fight on Road FC 30: Road Fighting Championship 30 in April 2016. Now, if it were almost anyone else, they would have turned down the fight. After all, marriage is one of the biggest, most memorable moments in any person’s life. Not to mention the stress and challenges of putting together a wedding ceremony leave room to do anything else. But not for Xiaonan, who accepted the fight, won it, and was signed by the UFC shortly after it.

Does Yan Xiaonan have kids?

Xiaonan and Yang do not have any kids as of April 2025. Or more accurately, at least she hasn’t posted anything about having children, nor have there been any reports about her having children in the media. Nor has she taken any long, year-and-a-half, or two-year breaks in her activity since getting married that would be long enough for her to have any children.

But ‘Fury’ not having children is not at all surprising. After all, the Chinese dynamo is one of the best mixed martial artists in the world and has been very successfully fighting in the UFC since 2017. And that takes incessant, unstopping hard work and training. Not to mention the UFC gold, which is almost every UFC fighter’s ultimate goal, still eludes her. Especially after her UFC 300 loss to fellow countrywoman Zhang Weili. But her upcoming UFC 314 clash against Virna Jandiroba is likely to get her one step closer to another title shot. What do you think about Yan Xiaonan’s husband?