Highly-touted striker Amanda Bobby “ABC” Cooper kept Team Claudia’s perfect record intact with a close and competitive decision victory during tonight’s seventh episode of The Ultimate Fighter 23: “Team Joanna vs Team Claudia.” Cooper narrowly edged out Team Joanna’s Jamie Moyle.
The opening round of the action-packed strawweight bout saw both fighters land hard strikes on the feet until Moyle scored a late takedown, but Cooper rallied in the second stanza and she dominated the final moments of the fight by battering a bloodied Moyle with ground and pound to seal a victory.
Cooper (1-1-0 pro) opened the action with stiff jabs and a leg kick, but Moyle (3-1-0 pro) snapped her head back with two lead left hooks. She held Cooper against the cage and threw knees to the body until Cooper circled away, and the fighters traded body kicks and right hands. Moyle connected with an overhand right and another lead left hook, but Cooper flurried with punches in return and she mixed in body kicks. Cooper stunned Moyle with a right cross and followed with another one, but Moyle took her down. Cooper countered with an armbar attempt and Moyle landed short hammerfists before the bell.
Cooper landed kick-punch combos in round two until Moyle shot in and took her down into half-guard. She looked to move to mount, but Cooper kicked her off and scrambled up to her feet. Cooper reversed a takedown and she landed knees and elbows in a clinch after the fighters stood back up. One elbow opened a bad cut beside Moyle’s left eye, and Cooper reversed against another takedown that allowed her to take top position in Moyle’s half-guard. She blasted Moyle with punches and hammerfists in the final minute of the entertaining fight, but could not secure a finish.
Some cageside observers, including coach Joanna Jędrzejczyk, felt that Moyle had won the opening round and expected an overtime round to begin. However, two of the official judges scored both rounds for Cooper, leading to a Majority Decision victory with scores of 19-19 and 20-18 twice. The win moves Cooper into the semi-final round and improves coach Claudia “Claudinha” Gadelha’s team record to an incredible 6-0. Next week’s episode features Team Claudia’s Abdel “The Blade” Medjedoub against Team Joanna’s Josh “The Sandman” Stansbury.