TUF 20 finalist “Thug” Rose Namajunas made a strong case for a second shot at UFC gold with her biggest victory to date tonight at UFC on FOX 19: “Teixeira vs Evans” in Tampa, Florida. Namajunas avenged a past loss by edging out Tecia “The Tiny Tornado” Torres in strawweight action.
Tonight’s bout between Namajunas and Torres was a rematch from Invicta FC 6 in 2013 when Torres took home the decision win. Also at UFC on FOX 19, Raquel “Rocky” Pennington picked up her second straight victory by outpointing former bantamweight title challenger Bethe “Pitbull” Correia.
Namajunas (5-2-0) looked to establish her jab early in the 115-pound co-main event, but Torres (7-1-0) countered with one-twos and leg kicks. She caught a kick from Namajunas and unloaded with a barrage of punches in close. Namajunas landed a knee in a Thai clinch, but Torres rocked her with a left hook over the top. Namajunas recovered and scored a trip takedown, but Torres defended well against Namajunas’s punches on the ground.
In round two, Namajunas countered Torres’s kick-punch combos with hard right hands. She knocked Torres off-balance with lead left hooks and followed with a front kick to the body. Torres stuffed a takedown, and she continued to mix up her strikes well, but Namajunas connected with more left hooks before the end of the round.
Torres targeted Namajunas’s lead leg with kicks in the final round and Namajunas began to slow down. Torres landed more leg kicks as the round progressed and she avoided a flying knee from Namajunas. When Namajunas shot in for a takedown, Torres initially reversed it, but Namajunas powered through and put her on the ground. She struck from the top until Torres kicked her off as time expired.
All three judges scored the close contest 29-28 for Namajunas, who has won three straight fights since succumbing to a third-round rear-naked choke from Carla “Cookie Monster” Esparza in the inaugural UFC women’s strawweight title fight. She hopes to get back into contention with tonight’s victory.
Winner: Rose Namajunas by Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) after three rounds. She improves to 5-2-0.
Pennington (7-5-0) continued her ascension up the competitive women’s bantamweight rankings with a well-deserved victory on tonight’s preliminary card. She established her jab early on and landed left and right hooks that kept Correia (9-2-0) guessing. Correia scored with kicks, but Pennington backed her up with two hard punches and she landed another flurry in the final minute.
Both women landed hard punches in round two and Correia pressed the action with combinations. More punches were exchanged and the fighters brawled in close. Pennington had success by landing standing elbows and she used them to fend off takedown attempts against the cage. Late in the round, Pennington landed knees and more elbows until time expired.
The final round began with another exchange of power punches and Correia cracked Pennington with a counter right hook. She initiated a clinch, but Pennington broke free and the fighters resumed striking. Correia fought off a takedown attempt and she countered Pennington’s knees by landing punches until the end of the competitive fight.
One judge scored the fight 29-28 for Correia, while the remaining two favoured Pennington’s striking dominance in rounds one and two and awarded her a victory with matching scores of 29-28. The talented 27-year-old Pennington has won three of her past four fights, with the lone blemish coming in the form of a Split Decision loss to former UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Holly “The Preacher’s Daughter” Holm.
Winner: Raquel Pennington by Split Decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29) after three rounds. She improves to 7-5-0.
(Photo Credit: UFC)
I thought all four women were very impressive tonight. These were two high-level, professional bouts and before a national television audience no less. A great indication of just how far WMMA has come in so short a time.
I must say Correia showed tremendous improvement in a solid performance against Pennington, whom I expected to walk through her. Totally changed my mind about Bethe – I have a feeling she will be around for a while and probably has some good wins yet ahead of her.