In one of her best performances to date, Tecia “The Tiny Tornado” Torres extended her winning streak to three with a well-deserved Unanimous Decision victory tonight at UFC 265 in Houston, Texas. Torres outpointed strawweight rival Angela “Overkill” Hill in a featured main card rematch.
In other strawweight action on tonight’s card, former Invicta FC Atomweight Champion Jessica Penne continued her climb back up the 115-pound rankings with a quick and impressive victory. Penne submitted former UFC title challenger Karolina Kowalkiewicz with a slick first-round armbar.
Torres (13-5-0) was extremely active throughout tonight’s three-round bout with Hill (13-10-0), who struggled to find her range due to Torres’s varied arsenal of kicks. Hill scored a brief takedown in the first round, but Torres quickly battled back to her feet and she resumed kicking from a distance. Late in the round, Torres finished a flurry with a side kick and Hill landed a solid body kick in return.
The second round was more of the same, and Torres once again controlled the pace by darting in and out with side kicks and quick flurries of punches. Hill caught one kick and took Torres’s back, but she lost the position and Torres attacked with a front kick to Hill’s face and a spinning wheel kick. She slipped while throwing a spinning kick in the final seconds, however, and Hill took partial mount and landed punches before time expired.
Despite Hill’s late rally in round two, Torres still appeared to be comfortably ahead on the scorecards heading into the final round. She tried to take Hill down, but Hill’s defence was solid and the fighters traded punches on the feet. Torres landed the quicker strikes and she got Hill down into side control, where she landed elbows to Hill’s face in the final seconds.
Scores were 29-28 and 30-27 twice for Torres, who was on the brink of being released from the UFC in 2019 following her fourth straight defeat. With tonight’s victory – her third in a row – Torres is now right back in contention among the strawweight elite.
Penne (14-5-0) was tripped to the mat after Kowalkiewicz (12-7-0) caught a kick early in round one, but she powered out from the bottom and put Kowalkiewicz on her back against the cage. Penne postured up with punches while Kowalkiewicz threw upkicks from the bottom and tried for a kneebar. Penne avoided danger and swiftly transitioned to an armbar during a scramble. She used it to transition to mount and then rolled through with a second armbar. Penne pulled back on Kowalkiewicz’s right arm and Kowalkiewicz was forced to tap out at the 4:32 mark of round one.
Tonight’s victory was an important one for Penne, who has now won back-to-back fights this year since returning from a controversial USADA suspension that sidelined her for four years. Much like Torres, Penne has also had to battle back after a tough losing streak, but her win over Kowalkiewicz was arguably her biggest and most important victory since she captured Invicta FC gold in October 2012. She was also awarded with a Performance of the Night bonus.
Also on the card tonight, Melissa Gatto (7-0-2) made a successful UFC debut against Victoria “Fury” Leonardo (8-4-0) in a flyweight bout. Gatto threatened with a rear-naked choke and an armbar in the opening round, and she controlled the second stanza on the feet with one-two combos and overhand rights. At the end of round two, Leonardo indicated that her right arm – which she had previously broken in her UFC debut in January – had been re-broken, and the cageside doctor waved off the fight.
(Photo Credit: UFC)