Veteran Russian contender Julia Berezikova earned one of her biggest wins to date in a featured flyweight bout tonight at XFC International 9 in São Paulo, Brazil. Berezikova entered hostile territory and submitted Brazilian standout Juliana “Julie” Werner with an impressive second-round kneebar.
In the XFCi 9 co-feature, Poliana Botelho picked up her second straight win by knocking out Antonia “Marretinha” Silvaneide da Silva to win the XFC women’s flyweight tournament. In strawweight tournament semi-final bouts, Viviane “Sucuri” Pereira and Vuokko Katainen both earned big wins tonight.
Berezikova (8-4-0) was aggressive on the feet from the opening bell and she immediately put Werner (8-5-0) on the defensive with leg kicks and a combination. She took Werner down and scored with punches and elbows from mount until Werner used the cage to get back to her feet. Berezikova landed knees to the body and took Werner down again, but Werner fought off an armbar attempt and wound up on top in Berezikova’s guard before the bell.
In round two, Berezikova rushed forward at her opponent and clinched again. She landed more knees to the body and held Werner against the fence until the fighters were separated. When action resumed, Berezikova pulled Werner to the mat with a kneebar attempt. She wrenched back on Werner’s leg until the Brazilian was forced to submit at the 1:45 mark of round two.
In the brief but violent finale to XFC’s latest women’s flyweight tournament, Botelho (4-1-0) made short work of da Silva (4-2-0) to claim the tournament title. After an early exchange of punches and leg kicks, an overzealous da Silva dashed at her opponent with wild punches. Botelho stopped her in her tracks with a left-right counter combination and floored da Silva with a final right hook that finished the fight at the 1:36 mark of round one.
Earlier tonight, Pereira (8-0-0) kept her perfect professional record intact with a Unanimous Decision victory over Liana “Li” Ferreira Pirosin (3-1-0) in one of two women’s strawweight tournament semi-finals. Scores were 30-27 across the board for Pereira, whose kicks and takedowns in the opening rounds were enough to seal the win in her favour. The 21-year-old is 2-0 under the XFC International banner.
The other strawweight tournament semi-final featured a significant upset, as short-notice replacement Katainen (3-2-1) outpointed the previously unbeaten Dora Perjes (7-1-0) to advance to the tournament final. Katainen, who stepped into the fight in place of UFC signee Maryna “The Iron Woman” Moroz, edged out Perjes by controlling the final two rounds with takedowns and ground and pound. Scores were 29-28 thrice for Katainen, who moves on to the strawweight tournament final later this year.
(Photo Credit: Super Fight League)