Vieira upsets Holm in UFC Fight Night
Ketlen Vieira secured the biggest win of her UFC career when she defeated Holly Holm via split decision in the women’s bantamweight main event of a Fight Night held at the APEX Facility in Las Vegas on Sunday morning.
Vieira moves to 13-2 in her MMA career and has claimed two significant scalps in her last two trips to the Octagon, adding Holm to a unanimous decision win over Miesha Tate in November of last year.
It was a back-and-forth main event, in which both women were able to demonstrate crisp striking and solid grappling skills – though Vieira nearly secured an early win with a rear-naked choke in round two which Holm only just managed to wrangle free from.
The Preacher’s Daughter dominated most of round three and kicked her opponent off her feet in round four, while the final round was mostly a brutal stand-up battle in which Holm landed some major kicks, but Vieira’s uppercut down the middle was a powerful retort.
Ultimately, the judges felt that the Brazilian had done just enough to claim a split decision (47-48 48-47 48-47) triumph and boost her chances of having a bantamweight title fight against Julianna Pena or Amanda Nunes (who meet in a rematch at UFC 277 later this year).
“I am the next champion of the women’s bantamweight champion,” Vieira told Daniel Cormier in her post-fight interview. “I am next, I am ready, I am here.”
Holm, who will soon be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, had no doubt in her mind that she was the fight’s rightful winner: “I thought I won the fight. I gave her round two and I feel I won all the others. I don’t think it was a question.”
The rest of the main card featured two further split decision wins, as Jun Yong Park edged Eryk Anders in the middleweight opener, while the comain saw Michael Pereira narrowly get the better of Santiago Ponzinibbio in a welterweight clash.
Tabatha Ricci defeated fellow strawweight Polyana Viana via unanimous decision, while Chidi Njokuani scored the only knockout on the main card, putting down fellow middleweight Dusko Todorovic with a brutal elbow late in the first round of their match.
The next UFC event is a Fight Night at the APEX Facility on the morning of Sunday 5 June 2022, headlined by a heavyweight bout between Alexander Volkov and Jairzinho Rozenstruik.