The newest addition to the UFC’s women’s bantamweight division made quite the impression in her debut Saturday at UFC Fight Night: Oliveira vs. Gamrot in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Beatriz Mesquita is among the most credentialled Brazilian jiu-jitsu artists of her era, and the 10-time world champion earned her first UFC win by submitting Irina Alekseeva in the second round of their preliminary card matchup.
Mesquita made her mixed martial arts debut 16 months ago but is already 6-0 with a handful of impresses finishes.
The 34-year-old Mesquita is an American Top Team teammate of current 135-pound champion Kayla Harrison and used her dominant grappling base to get the better of Alekseeva. She spent the majority of the opening round in mount position, raining down punches and elbows on her Russian opponent, then dragged the action to the ground again in the second round before locking up a rear-naked choke that ended the fight.
Mesquita won a Legacy Fighting Alliance title in just her fifth pro bout this past June and looked right at home under the bright lights in the UFC.
In other preliminary action, Vitor Petrino absolutely flattened Thomas Petersen with an uppercut KO early in the third round of their heavyweight fight. Petrino is now 2-0 in the weight class after moving up earlier this year following a six-fight run in the 205-pound division.
Petrino called out top-10 heavyweight stalwart Marcin Tybura after the win, which would be a solid step-up in competition for the 28-year-old Petrino.
Julia Polastri handed one-time strawweight title challenger Karolina Kowalkiewicz her third consecutive loss, rocking the more experienced fighter with a head kick in the third round and following up with punches that led to a standing technical knockout. It was just the second KO/TKO loss of Kowalkiewicz’s 26-fight MMA career.
Kowalkiewicz, who turns 40 next week, was a step behind her 27-year-old opponent from the jump. Polastri hurt Kowalkiewicz with a kick to the body early in the opening round and bloodied her nose with a flurry of punches. In total, Polastri landed 137 significant strikes in the match compared to just 72 for Kowalkiewicz.
A pair of Brazilians showed out in the flyweight division, with Lucas Rocha putting on a clinic against Australia’s Stewart Nicoll en route to a unanimous decision, and Jafel Filho using a kimura to tap out American Clayton Carpenter in the first round.
The prelims opened with a catchweight bout between Saimon Oliveira and Luan Lacerda that ended with Lacerda earning a submission win due to a second-round armbar.
The fight was originally scheduled as a bantamweight matchup; however, Oliveira missed weight on Friday by a whopping eight pounds, nearly a full weight class. Although the UFC did not disclose the punishment, MMAFighting’s Guilherme Cruz reported that Oliveira was fined 50 per cent of his purse for the massive weight miss and that he had to weigh no more than 155 pounds when he arrived at Farmasi Arena. Oliveira was 155 when he arrived, and the fight was allowed to proceed.
Oliveira, 34, fell to 0-4 in the UFC and has been finished in three consecutive fights. Suffice it to say, between the fourth straight loss and the weigh-in folly, the fighter’s time in the organization could be nearing an end.
The final prelim saw Michael Aswell completely overwhelm fellow featherweight Lucas Almeida to secure a first-round TKO win. There had been some concerns that Almeida was fighting compromised. At Friday’s ceremonial weigh-ins, Almeida’s right hand appeared significantly swollen, which is often an indication of a fracture.
A heavyweight matchup between Valter Walker and Mohammed Usman was cancelled after Usman withdrew from the matchup hours before the official weigh-in and the day before the event. UFC Rio marked the organization’s 41st event held in Brazil and the 13th in Rio de Janeiro.
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