On Saturday night, 19-year-old rising star Larissa Moreira Pacheco scored her biggest win to date at Jungle Fight 63 in Belém, Pará, Brazil. Pacheco stopped Mexican striker Irene Aldana in round three of the co-feature to win the inaugural Jungle Fight Women’s Bantamweight Championship.

Pacheco pressured Aldana with strikes on the feet right from the opening bell and both fighters threatened with submissions in a series of scrambles on the mat. In the final round, Pacheco dropped Aldana with a four-punch combination to become Jungle Fight’s first 135-pound female champion.

Pacheco (9-0-0) and Aldana (3-1-0) traded kicks and power punches in the opening minute of the title fight. Time was briefly called after Pacheco was poked in the eye, but she was able to continue and she backed Aldana up with a flurry of punches. Both women landed hard knees in close and Pacheco continued to press the action with punches. She caught a kick from Aldana and took her down, then transitioned to an armbar. Aldana escaped, but Pacheco closed out the action-packed round on top.

Aldana pulled half-guard with a guillotine choke in round two, but Pacheco mounted her and rained down punches. Aldana scrambled free and worked for an inverted triangle choke from the top, but she lost the position and Pacheco spun free into side control. She attempted a keylock and a guillotine choke of her own. Aldana began to score with some solid ground and pound, but Pacheco countered with a triangle choke. Back on the feet, Pacheco landed punches and pulled Aldana down to the mat. She wound up on the bottom, but quickly locked on an armbar from her back.

As round three began, Aldana’s face was noticeably swollen from Pacheco’s punches throughout the fight. Pacheco walked Aldana down with combinations and forced her opponent to backpedal. A right uppercut and a one-two combo staggered Aldana and Pacheco dropped her with a looping left hook. Aldana fell to her knees and the referee intervened to stop the highly entertaining fight.

With Saturday’s win, Pacheco kept her undefeated record intact against her toughest opponent to date and she remains one of the brightest female prospects in Brazil today. At just 19 years of age, Pacheco is now the first women’s bantamweight champion in Jungle Fight’s ten-year history. She will likely move on to the UFC in 2014.

Winner: Larissa Moreira Pacheco by TKO (Punches) at 1:50 of round three. She improves to 9-0-0 and becomes the first Jungle Fight Women’s Bantamweight Champion.

(Photo Credit: Jungle Fight)