TUF 20 cast member Justine Kish eked out a victory in her long-awaited Octagon debut tonight at UFC 195: “Lawler vs Condit” in Las Vegas, Nevada. The unbeaten strawweight took a contentious Unanimous Decision win over Nina “The Strina” Ansaroff on tonight’s televised preliminary card.

Kish was very aggressive on the feet in rounds one and two, but she was repeatedly tagged by hard counterpunches from Ansaroff, who appeared to clearly get the better of the striking exchanges. However, Kish’s takedowns and ground control later in the fight swayed the judges in her favour.

Kish (5-0-0) rushed forward and ate a series of one-two combos from Ansaroff (6-5-0) in the opening minute. Ansaroff was poked in the eye, but the fight continued and she landed more hard punches after briefly trying for a takedown. Kish remained aggressive, and she knocked Ansaroff down with a nice leg kick after escaping from a standing arm-triangle choke, but Ansaroff backed her up with more punching combinations in the final minute.

Ansaroff continued to outbox Kish in the second round and she countered Kish’s leg kicks with a head kick that rocked her and forced Kish to retreat. Kish recovered and scored a takedown late in the round, but she was unable to land anything significant on the ground before the bell.

Ansaroff took the fight to the mat again in round three, but Kish remained active from her back and she tried for an armbar before scrambling back up to her feet. She landed a big right hand and took Ansaroff down, then struck from back control until shortly before the end of the fight.

In spite of Ansaroff’s apparent dominance on the feet in the opening ten minutes, the judges handed Kish a controversial Unanimous Decision victory with scores of 29-28 and 30-27 twice. She remains undefeated in her pro MMA career and made a successful return tonight following a two-year hiatus.

Winner: Justine Kish by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) after three rounds. She improves to 5-0-0.

(Photo Credit: UFC)