Australian fighter Alex Chambers has the honour of becoming the first Australian female fighter to compete in the Ultimate Fighting Championships, with Bec Rawlings following up with her debut only a few fights later. Both though started their UFC careers with a loss.
Chambers & Rawlings participated on this season’s series of The Ultimate Fighter and got their opportunity to fight in the UFC on the season finale event, held at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada on Friday night (Saturday morning AEDT).
Alex Chambers started strongly in her match-up against tough Irish fighter Aisling Daly. Chambers, out of the VT1 gym, pressed her opponent against the cage and was able to land an elbow and secure a takedown early. The Aussie maintained the top position before Daly eventually reversed. From there, Daly stayed a step ahead of Sydney fighter, looking for submissions, moving to mount and ultimately securing the armbar submission to get the tap 4:53 into the opening round.
The loss drops Chambers’ career record to 4-2 and halts an impressive run that had her defeat Mike Nagano and Jodie Esquibel. Training out of the same gym as Conor Mcgregor, Daly moves her record to 15-5.
Bec Rawlings and her opponent Heather Clark came into the fight with bad blood between them which included the Brisbane based fighter flipping off Clark at the weigh-ins.
The two clinched inside the pocket early in the fight where Rawlings got the better of the knee exchanges. From the outside, Rawlings attacked with low-kicks however a big punch landed from Clark that the Amreicanto secure a takedown. Rawlings escaped straight back to her feet and the two went to battle against the cage again.
In the second round, an accidental clash of heads left a hematoma on Rawlings’ head. Rawlings went for a takedown of her own but Clark successfully defended where she was able to take the back and attempt to sink in the choke before the round ended.
Rawlings started to rally in the last round, as she threw combinations and stayed on the front foot. The punches found their mark, in particular a series of uppercuts but in the end time ran out.
All three judges awarded the fight to Heather Clark 29-28. Clark (7-4) came into the bout with a torn ACL and will now have surgery to repair. 25 year-old Rawlings drops to 5-4 as a professional in what was her third loss in four fights.
The event was headlined by The Ultimate Fighter final, which also doubled up as the inaugural women’s strawweight title bout. Team Pettis fighter Carla Esparza overcame Rose Namajunas to capture the crown with a third round rear-naked choke submission.
Full Results:
- Carla Esparza def Rose Namajunas via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 3, 1:26
- Charles Oliveira def Jeremy Stephens via Decision (Unanimous)
- Daron Cruickshank vs K.J. Noons – No Contest (Accidental Eye Poke), Rd 2, 0:25
- Yancy Medeiros def Joe Proctor via Submission (Guillotine Choke), Rd 1, 4:37
- Jessie Penne def Randa Markos via Decision (Split)
- Felice Herrig def Lisa Ellis via Submission (Armbar), Rd 2, 3:05
- Heather Clark def Bec Rawlings via Decision (Unanimous)
- Joanne Calderwood def Seo Hee Ham via Decision (Unanimous)
- Tecia Torres def Angela Magana via Decision (Unanimous)
- Aisling Daly def Alex Chambers via Submission (Armbar), Rd 1, 4:53
- Angela Hill def Emily Kagan via Decision (Unanimous)
