Getty Images/UFC
Sometimes, a fight comes down to the winning fighter having one
elite technique, the moxie to use it, and an opponent who cannot or
will not make adjustments.
Advertisement
In the final fight of the four-bout undercard of UFC on ESPN 61 on
Saturday in Las Vegas, Karol Rosa
(18-6) brutalized Pannie
Kianzad (16-9) for three rounds with a barrage of calf kicks.
From the opening seconds of the fight, Rosa went to work on the
lead leg of Kianzad and those kicks defined the round, as Kianzad
first ignored them, then began trying to pull the threatened limb
out of danger, and finally, late in the round, had her leg buckle.
The onslaught continued in Round 2, with Rosa pouring on the low
kicks and meeting “Banzai” with punches and elbow strikes when she
tried to close the distance. By the midpoint of the round, Kianzad
was limping and bleeding badly from a cut opened by a Rosa elbow,
but remained game, marching forward and throwing punches even as
she fell further and further behind. Kianzad wisely charged in and
clinched to open up the final round, getting her beleaguered left
leg off of the artillery range, but Rosa punished her with short
punches and elbows before disengaging and going back to work with
kicks. Rosa scored an easy takedown in the middle of the round,
chipping away with strikes from top position and helping seal a
dominant performance.
After the final horn sounded, Rosa prevailed by unanimous 30-27
scores, elevating her UFC record to 8-3 and positioning her as a
woman on the rise in the wide-open 135-pound division; Kianzad fell
to 5-6 in the promotion.
Undefeated Diniz Holds on to Beat Williams
In a solid heavyweight prospect matchup, Jhonata
Diniz (8-0) kept his professional record spotless against
Karl
Williams (10-2). Diniz got off to a solid start in Round 1,
catching Williams with several clean punch combinations, shrugging
off his takedown attempts and doing steady work on Williams’ lead
leg with low kicks. The Brazilian kept the momentum going in the
middle frame and kept Williams further off-balance by mixing in
body punches. Diniz looked ready to break the fight wide open in
Round 3, as he rocked Williams with a flush pair of punches that
staggered him badly. However, Williams succeeded in grounding Diniz
a desperation double-leg takedown and went to work from top
position near the fence, thumping Diniz with punches and elbows.
Williams poured it on as the final horn sounded, but Diniz survived
and, with two rounds already banked away, prevailed by unanimous
decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28). The win extended Diniz’s UFC mark
to 2-0, while Williams’ first Octagon loss left him at 3-1 in the
promotion.
Zalal Strangles Errens
Youssef
Zalal (15-5-1) made quick work of Jarno
Errens (14-6-1), tapping out the Dutchman with a standing
rear-naked choke in Round 1 of their featherweight preliminary
bout. Zalal wasted little time in dragging Errens to the floor with
a single-leg takedown. As Errens stood back up near the fence, “The
Moroccan Devil” hopped on his back, locked up a body triangle and
applied the choke. Errens tapped within seconds, with the finish
coming officially at 3:52 of the first round. The win extended
Zalal’s UFC record to 5-3-1 overall, 2-0 since being re-signed by
the promotion; Errens’ Octagon record fell to 1-3.
Luciano Pelts Alencar
In the strawweight opener, Stephanie
Luciano (6-1-1) threw everything but the kitchen sink at
Talita
Alencar (6-1-1) for three increasingly one-sided rounds. The
two women fought to a draw last year on
Dana White’s Contender Series, defined by Luciano pulling ahead
of an exhausted Alencar for a 10-8 Round 3. In the rematch on
Saturday, Luciano was the superior fighter from the start, pelting
the shorter Alencar with kicks, punches, and elbows as Alencar
tried vainly to close the distance and bring the fight to the
floor. That dynamic only grew more pronounced as the fight wore on,
and by the final round, a grinning Luciano was attempting to frame
her opponent for a highlight-reel head kick. That finish never
came, but the judges had easy work in rendering unanimous 30-27
scores for the 24-year-old “Rondinha,” who moved to 1-0 in the UFC
with the win. Alencar fell to 1-1 in the promotion.