Former World Series of Fighting (WSOF) women's Strawweight champion, Jessica Aguilar, was released from her contract so that she could test her skills against the best competition Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has to offer.
Careful what you wish for!
Aguilar was pitted against No. 1-ranked Claudia Gadelha -- who nearly defeated reigning division champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk in her last outing -- in her Octagon debut tonight (Sat., Aug. 1, 2015) at UFC 190, which took place inside HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Aguilar got the action started quick, storming out of her corner pumping punches. Gadelha stopped her in her tracks with stiff jab and then a knee, which forced Aguilar to back off a bit. Aguilar continued to come forward and Gadelha made her pay with hard, accurate counter punches.
Gadelha caught her with a left hook and then a knee, but Aguilar did not appear to be too fazed. Aguilar kept diving in, head first with blind punches, which did little other than get her nose bloodied. Gadelha ended the first round with a takedown, threatening with a rear-naked choke that never materialized.
Gadelha started the second with a huge left , then and uppercut, which put Aguilar on her bicycle, circling away so that she did not absorb more punishment. Gadelha caught up with her along the fence and scored another takedown as Aguilar's nose was now gushing blood.
Aguilar was able to eventually able to break free, but Gadelha continued to sting her busted nose with stiff jabs. Gadelha connected with a nice uppercut around the one-minute mark, which forced a wince out of Aguilar, who -- despite losing a majority of the exchanges -- showed no signs of wilting. Like she did in round one, Gadelha ended the second with a powerful takedown.
Gadelha picked up where she left off to start the third and final round, drilling Aguilar with a huge right hook. Aguilar responded with several legs as the two traded big bombs in the center of the Octagon. Aguilar attempted a takedown along the fence and on the break they traded more big shots.
Aguilar began to open up and find more success midway through the round as Gadelha perhaps was a bit tired from the first two rounds of action. It appeared her leg attacks were beginning to pay, dividends, too, but it was a case of too little, too late. Gadelha scored a takedown with 30 seconds remaining in the match, more or less sealing her unanimous decision victory.
Aguilar didn't make it easy, though. Gadelha hit her with everything she had and "Jag" was game until the very end. With the win, Gadelha more than likely sets up a rematch against Jedrzejczyk later this year.
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