Irish star Aisling “Ais The Bash” Daly scored one of the biggest victories of her career in front of her hometown fans tonight at UFC Fight Night 76: “Holohan vs Smolka” in Dublin, Leinster, Ireland. Daly defeated Brazilian grappling specialist Ericka Almeida in a featured strawweight bout.

Daly was very aggressive throughout tonight’s fight and she kept Almeida on the defensive. Almeida had her best success in the second round when she threatened with a rear-naked choke, but Daly came on strong again in the final round and she was rewarded with a well-deserved decision victory.

Daly (16-6-0) ran forward right away and threw power punches that led to a clinch against the cage. Almeida (7-2-0) countered with knees to the body, but Daly kept the pressure on and she scored a trip takedown with just over one minute to go. She finished the round strong by raining down some solid punches from a standing position.

The second round began with Daly once again rushing in to clinch with Almeida against the fence. She took Almeida down and looked to set up an arm-triangle choke from the top. Daly then stood up and dropped punches until Almeida attacked with a triangle choke attempt from her back. She used it to sweep into top position in side control, then took Daly’s back in search of a rear-naked choke, and she remained on Daly’s back until the bell.

Daly rocked Almeida with big punches in the final round and she tried to throw her down to the mat. The Brazilian got caught up in the fence, but Daly pulled Almeida down and threw punches and elbows while standing over her. More punches scored for Daly as the round progressed, but Almeida used upkicks to prevent her from passing her guard. Daly continued to find a home for her right hand on Almeida’s face in the final seconds of the entertaining fight.

The dominant final round from Daly left the judges with an easy decision. They returned scores of 30-27, 29-27 and 29-28 – all in favour of Daly – and the Irish crowd erupted in cheers. Daly has won two of her three official UFC bouts since her time on The Ultimate Fighter 20 this past year.

Winner: Aisling Daly by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 29-27, 29-28) after three rounds. She improves to 16-6-0.

(Photo Credit: UFC)