Holly Holm, Lucie Pudilova Triumph At UFC Fight Night 111 In SingaporeFormer UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Holly “The Preacher’s Daughter” Holm halted a three-fight losing skid with a devastating knockout victory tonight at UFC Fight Night 111 in Kallang, Singapore. Holm finished an overconfident Bethe “Pitbull” Correia with a head kick in the main event.

Tonight’s headliner started off slowly, and neither woman committed to any offence in the opening ten minutes. Correia taunted early in round three, but that proved to be her downfall. Earlier on the card, Lucie “Ultimo” Pudilova narrowly edged out Ji Yeon “Firefist” Kim in the bantamweight opener.

 

In round one of the main event, the fighters cautiously circled for almost two full minutes until Holm (11-3-0) landed a pair of side kicks to Correia’s (10-3-1) body. Correia threw occasional right hands and came up short with leg kicks. Later on, Correia ducked into a head kick that grazed her chin, but she was unfazed and cracked Holm with a one-two and a right hook before the bell.

Little transpired in the opening half of round two. Correia eventually lunged in with a right hand and avoided a head kick. Referee Marc Goddard grew impatient and warned both women for timidity, and Correia responded with a spinning backfist after the restart. Holm landed a kick-punch combo and Correia countered by taking her back against the cage.

Correia began to taunt after an uneventful start to round three. In response, a patient Holm answered by landing a crushing head kick and a follow-up left hand that left Correia unconscious on the mat.

While tonight’s victory was certainly not Holm’s most exciting, it was easily one of her most important wins to date. She previously dropped a razor-thin decision to Germaine “The Iron Lady” de Randamie in the UFC’s puzzling inaugural women’s featherweight title fight in February. Correia has won just once in her past five fights.

Winner: Holly Holm by KO (Head Kick & Punch) at 1:09 of round three. She improves to 11-3-0.

 

Pudilova (7-2-0) and Kim (6-1-2) traded stiff jabs and leg kicks right away in round one, and Pudilova continued to score with more long jabs as the round progressed. Kim came up short with right hooks and Pudilova snapped her head back with straight left hands. Kim pressed forward in the final 90 seconds, but Pudilova countered nicely with front kicks to the body. More jabs and right hands landed for Pudilova late in the round, and Kim clinched briefly after landing a flurry.

Kim bloodied Pudilova’s nose with right hands in the second round and she followed with an uppercut in close. Pudilova clinched and the fighters traded knees to the body against the fence. After the referee called for a break, Pudilova landed a punch-kick combo and Kim responded with an uppercut. The fight appeared to be even after ten minutes.

Pudilova closed the distance in round three and she landed short elbows over the top. Kim looked for a leg-sweep takedown, but Pudilova stayed on her feet and she kept Kim pinned against the cage. The fighters were separated and Kim landed a hard right hand, but Pudilova backed her up with punches and she threatened with a standing guillotine choke in a clinch. Kim dropped to her knees to escape and wound up in top position in Pudilova’s guard, but Pudilova kicked her off and stood up. She tried for another guillotine before the bell.

All three judges scored the fight in favour of Pudilova, who rebounded from her second career loss to rival Lina “Elbow Princess” Länsberg in her Octagon debut. Deep Jewels champion Kim suffered her first defeat, but put forth a solid showing tonight.

Winner: Lucie Pudilova by Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) after three rounds. She improves to 7-2-0.

 

 

(Photo Credit: UFC)