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.
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.
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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.
