Amanda Nunes is back in the double-champ seat after putting Juliana Peña’s toughness to the optimum test.
One judge had even scored the fight 50-43 in Nunes’ favor. Nunes knocked Peña down 5 times, 3 of them in the 2nd round alone. She also took Peña down at will, securing 6 out of 8 attempts and racking up nearly 12-minutes of control time on the ground.
But Peña fought like a champion and continued to dish out damage to Nunes until the final moments of the fight. She was relentless in her submission attempts while on her back, and actually accumulated more strikes landed than Nunes.
But at the conclusion of the fight, the scorecards were essentially a formality as the winner was clear and Amanda Nunes’ hand was ultimately raised.
In the co-main event, Brandon Moreno became the interim-Flyweight Champion by defeating Kai Kara-France in the 3rd round via TKO thanks to a vicious liver kick that put Kara-France down and out. They battled for a really close fight, and arguments could be made in either fighter’s favor, but Kara-France seemed to be pulling away in the 3rd round and Moreno was wearing the damage. However, Moreno started to make the fight a bit uglier by rushing in, brawling, and throwing heavy shots, and that’s the moment that he was able to land the fight ending strike.
Moreno is now in line to take on Deiveson Figueredo for the fourth time. Figueredo was in attendance, and even though their next fight was already catching some hype, both fighters showed each other some major respect.
// MAIN CARD //
Julianna Peña (c) vs. Amanda Nunes, women’s bantamweight championship
Brandon Moreno def. Kai Kara-France via TKO
Sergei Pavlovich def. Derrick Lewis via TKO
Alexandre Pantoja def. Alex Perez via Submission (RNC)
Magomed Ankalaev def. Anthony Smith via TKO
// PRELIMS //
Alex Morono def. Matthew Semelsberger via Unanimous Decision
Drew Dober def. Rafael Alves via KO
Hamdy Abdelwahab def. Don’Tale Mayes via Split Decision
Drakkar Klose def. Rafa Garcia via Unanimous Decision
// EARLY PRELIMS //
Michael Morales def. Adam Fugitt via TKO
Joselyne Edwards def. Ji Yeon Kim via Split Decision
Nicolae Negumereanu def. Ihor Potieria TKO
Orion Cosce def. Blood Diamond via Unanimous Decision
