Two-division CFFC champion Katlyn Chookagian made a successful UFC debut with a big win tonight at UFC Fight Night 91: “McDonald vs Lineker” in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Chookagian took a Unanimous Decision victory over former Invicta FC Bantamweight Champion “Lucky” Lauren Murphy.
Ealier on tonight’s card, strawweight prospect Cortney “Cast Iron” Casey earned her first UFC victory in quick and dominant fashion. Casey stopped Cristina “Barbie” Stanciu with vicious ground and pound in the first round, then called out former UFC champion Carla “Cookie Monster” Esparza.
Chookagian (8-0-0) immediately established her long jab in the opening round and she used it to keep Murphy (9-3-0) at a distance. She countered a clinch attempt with an uppercut, but Murphy began to find her range in the middle of the round and she scored with a nice flurry. Chookagian continued to have success with jabs, and she finished the round with kicks to the body.
The second round began in a similar fashion, with Chookagian landing jab-cross combos early on, but Murphy took her down and asserted her dominance on the mat. She fought off brief submissions from Chookagian and spent the entire round peppering Chookagian with punches from top position.
Chookagian kept her distance and pawed out again with jabs in round three. Murphy rushed in with a flurry of punches, but Chookagian tagged her with a knee and a right hook. She opened a cut beside Murphy’s left eye with punches and fought off Murphy’s takedown attempts. In the final minute, Chookagian landed a big knee and a series of elbows to Murphy’s temple.
Scores were 29-28 across the board for Chookagian, who remains undefeated in her mixed martial arts career. Though she is fighting one division above her natural weight class, Chookagian’s performance tonight showcased why she is arguably North America’s top female prospect.
Winner: Katlyn Chookagian by Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) after three rounds. She improves to 8-0-0.
Casey (5-3-0) rebounded from close decision losses in her first two UFC bouts with a one-sided destruction of Stanciu (5-2-0) tonight. She took Stanciu down following an exchange of power punches and moved straight to mount. Stanciu survived Casey’s first barrage of elbows and kicked her off, but Casey took her right back down and effortlessly passed to mount again. She dropped a series of unanswered elbows from the top as Stanciu covered up and the fight was stopped.
Tonight’s victory was a critical one for Casey, who began her UFC career with narrow defeats against Joanne “JoJo” Calderwood and Seo Hee Ham. Her performance against Stanciu re-established her as a potential contender in the stacked strawweight division.
Winner: Cortney Casey by TKO (Elbows) at 2:36 of round one. She improves to 5-3-0.
(Photo Credit: UFC)