After a shaky start to her UFC career, “Rowdy” Bec Rawlings picked up her first victory inside the Octagon tonight at UFC Fight Night 65: “Miocic vs Hunt” in Adelaide, Australia. Rawlings dominated and submitted veteran contender Lisa Ellis late in the first round of a featured strawweight bout.

Rawlings was not the only Australian strawweight to earn an impressive submission win on tonight’s card. In a second women’s bout, Alex “Astro Girl” Chambers rallied back from the brink of defeat and finished Hawaiian prospect Kailin Curran with a slick armbar midway through the third round.

Rawlings (6-4-0) was taken down almost immediately by fellow TUF 20 alum Ellis (15-10-0), who worked from the top in half-guard before transitioning to an armbar attempt. Rawlings defended well and got back to her feet. She reversed a takedown soon after and wound up on top, where she landed punches until Ellis escaped and stood up. Rawlings briefly looked for a standing guillotine choke and Ellis escaped again, but she appeared to have already broken mentally.

In the ensuing seconds, Rawlings backed Ellis up with punches and hurt her with two knees to the face. Ellis wilted against the cage, then dove for a final desperation takedown attempt. Rawlings capitalised by taking Ellis’s back and she locked on a rear-naked choke. Ellis offered no resistance and tapped out at the 4:09 mark.

While most of the attention leading up to tonight’s grudge match focused on Rawlings’s and Ellis’s bitter war of words on social media, Rawlings ultimately backed up her promise to break Ellis, who has won just one time since August 2010. Rawlings will likely move on to compete on the upcoming UFC card in Melbourne later this year, while Ellis’s UFC career has presumably come to an end.

Winner: Bec Rawlings by Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) at 4:09 of round one. She improves to 6-4-0.

Chambers (5-2-0) lost almost every second of tonight’s fight against Curran (3-2-0), but she rallied in the third round to score a thrilling come-from-behind submission victory in front of a partisan crowd.

Aside from two brief takedowns from Chambers, round one clearly belonged to Curran, who outstruck Chambers on the feet with punches, kicks and knees. She also scored with ground and pound from the top after reversing a takedown into half-guard. It was more of the same in round two and Curran was in complete control of the fight. She mixed things up with strikes to the head and body as a fatigued Chambers slowed way down. Curran maintained a fast pace and she took Chambers down late in the round, but Chambers countered with an omoplata attempt before the bell.

Curran backed Chambers up with more crisp punches in the final round and she scored a takedown soon after. Chambers eventually moved into a position that allowed her to attack with a kimura from the bottom. She switched to an armbar and broke Curran’s grip. Curran tried to stand up to escape, but Chambers wrenched back on her arm and a dejected Curran was forced to submit at the 3:15 mark.

Tonight’s victory was a crucial one for Chambers, who may have been a part of the UFC cut list with a second consecutive defeat. Instead, the TUF 20 veteran thrilled the audience with her comeback win and earned a $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus in the process. Curran has now dropped both of her UFC bouts via third-round stoppages after faring well in the opening rounds.

Winner: Alex Chambers by Submission (Armbar) at 3:15 of round three. She improves to 5-2-0.

(Photo Credit: UFC)