UFC women’s strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk viciously dominated Jessica Penne on Saturday at UFC Fight Night Berlin. Jedrzejczyk scored a third-round TKO win in a fight that was never in doubt.
Penne was the better grappler, but Jedrzejczyk’s takedown defense was exemplary. As you can see from the fight stats, Jedrzejczyk stopped all but one of Penne’s nine takedown attempts:
The champion’s stand-up skills are clearly head and shoulders above just about any woman in the world. Out-landing an opponent 183-27 in significant strikes is like playing a video game on easy.
Just as she did against Carla Esparza when she won the title, Jedrzejczyk systematically chopped Penne down with a variety of punches, elbows and kicks. In the second round, she seemed to have broken Penne’s nose with an elbow. It drew an uncomfortable amount of blood and things went all downhill for Penne from there.
Jedrzejczyk battered Penne until the fight had to be stopped in the final round.
When it was over, Penne confidently called on her next challenger and told the UFC universe, she’ll have the belt for a long time.
UFC president Dana White gave Jedrzejczyk’s performance his stamp of approval:
Slowly but surely, Jedrzejczyk is becoming one of the most exciting champions in the UFC. The co-feature wasn’t quite as thrilling.
Kawajiri Wears Down Siver
After a strong first round from Dennis Siver, Tatsuya Kawajiri took over with his aggressive ground game. Siver displayed some solid takedown defense stopping 10 of the 14 attempts to take the fight to the ground.
However, when Kawajiri was able to take Siver down, he maintained control for 8:04 of the contest. Siver simply couldn’t do enough to sway the momentum or win the final two rounds.
The 37-year-old Kawajiri proved he still has a lot left in the tank. He was in excellent shape for the fight and was able to keep up a strong grappling pace for all 15 minutes of the bout. Look for him to get an even bigger fight the next time out.
Here’s a look at all of the results from Berlin and analysis into each bout.
Lapilus is Impressive
Taylor Lapilus is making a mark on the UFC bantamweight division relatively quickly. After winning his UFC debut over Rocky Lee in April, Lapilus annihilated Ulka Sasaki in the opening bout on Saturday’s prelim lineup.
The UFC has the ending of the bout in the video below:
From the beginning of the fight, Lapilus established an edge in striking with his quickness and aggression. He came forward and took control of the center of the Ocatgon. It led to a 31-16 edge in significant strikes.
In the second round, a straight left and a follow-up left hook seconds later put Sasaki down against the cage. Lapilus would brace Sasaki against the fence with his right hand and rain down more lefts until referee Wolf Menninger called a stop to the bout.
UFC Canada loved the way Lapilus kicked off the event:
Lapilus is now 10-1 in his career, and this was his first KO/TKO win. At just 23 years old, the Frenchman looks to have a solid future in the sport. Keep an eye out for his name in future events.
Cut Halts Hallmann
A Octagon-side doctor was forced to step in because of a cut over the left eye of Piotr Hallmann and award Magomed Mustafaev the TKO victory in the second round. It was an entertaining scrap.
Mustafaev did the most damage with hard elbows that had him on the brink of stopping Hallman without the doctor’s assistance in the first round. However, Hallman had the edge in fight stats. He landed 29 significant strikes to just 18 for Mustafaev. Hallmann also secured two takedowns to none for his opponent.
MMA Mad has an image of the judges’ scorecards:
While it was a bummer to see the fight end with a doctor’s stoppage, Bleacher Report’s Riley Kontek thought the physician made the right decision:
Even though most might say Mustafaev got the better of the meeting, a rematch might be in order.
Ashkam Decimated Dos Santos
Antonio dos Santos got off to a fast start against Scott Ashkam, but it didn’t last. Dos Santos forced Ashkam against the cage and used his low center of gravity to control his opponent. Ashkam stayed calm and ultimately got his back toward the center of the Octagon.
Dos Santos looked to have slowed down a bit after the opening moments. Two body kicks from Ashkam zapped more energy from the Brazilian. A big left hand dropped dos Santos and a hard knee precipitated the stoppage.
All things considered, it was a solid win from Ashkam especially considering he had lost his UFC debut against Magnus Cedenblad in October 2014.
Lahat Wins a Close One
In one of the most disputable results of the event, Noad Lahat won a majority decision over Niklas Backstrom. Many thought the fight should’ve been called a draw. Just one of the judges saw the fight even as the other two gave Lahat the nod via 29-28 scorecards.
The first round was clearly Backstrom’s. He nearly stopped Lahat with a rear-naked choke. Lahat did a great job avoiding the choke by turning into the direction of the hold. Once the fight was over, per the UFC Fight Pass broadcast, Lahat said: “No one will ever choke me.”
In the second, Lahat had the huge edge in striking. He landed 49 significant strikes to just six for Backstrom. You could easily make the case that the round should have been scored a 10-8 frame for Lahat. He nearly stopped his opponent on two occasions.
The last round was the toughest to score.
Backstrom scored three takedowns and controlled position for 3:01 of the round, but Lahat landed 13 significant strikes to just four for Backstrom. Two of the judges liked Lahat’s striking in the final round. Clearly this is questionable rationale considering how much time Backstrom spent in control.
MMA Fighting thought the bout should have been scored even:
It’s definitely a tough loss for the 25-year-old Swede. He’s now lost two in a row after being knocked out by Mike Wilkinson in October 2014. Lahat has improved to 9-1 overall and 2-1 in the UFC.
Triple-A Results
Arnold “Almighty” Allen displayed a solid ground game en route to his third-round submission victory over Alan Omer.
The very powerful and fluidly athletic Allen made a nice impression in this his UFC debut. Though he was out-struck in each of the three rounds, he seized the moment in the final frame.
A combination gave Allen the advantage and Omer quickly shot for a double-leg takedown against the cage. Allen dropped to his seat before quickly rising to his feet. Omer went for a hard knee, but Allen countered with a guillotine that found the sweet spot.
Omer was forced to quickly tap. UFC welterweight Colby Covington was complimentary of Allen’s work:
It’s early, but Allen has an exciting athletic base and sharp submission skills.
Taisumov Topples Patrick
After an even first round, Mairbek Taisumov walked through Alan Patrick in the second round. Patrick wanted to get the fight to the mat to utilize his edge in jiu-jitsu. Taisumov stopped all seven takedown attempts from Patrick and in the second round, Taisumov dropped Patrick with a head kick and punished him with hard shots to his downed opponent from a standing position.
Lightweight contender Khabib Nurmagomedov was complimentary of his countryman.
Taisumov has has now won three straight fights and all three have come by KO/TKO. Could a battle between the two Russians be in the cards down the line?
That might be interesting.
Mr. Finland Scores Emotional Victory
It only took Makwan Amirkhani eight seconds to beat Andy Ogle in his UFC debut in January. It took a little longer to beat Masio Fullen, but the end still came within the first round.
We might have forgotten that Amirkhani is known as a submissions specialist after we saw him destroy Ogle with a flying knee. Amirkhani reminded us he can make opponents tap on Saturday as he used a rear-naked choke to finish Masio Fullen.
It appeared Amirkhani had done his homework on Fullen. The Mexican had seemingly had issues defending takedowns in previous bouts I’d watched. Apparently Amirkhani had watched the same fights. He immediately slipped a Fullen strike and shot for the takedown.
Within 60 seconds, Amirkhani had Fullen locked up and tapping.
When the fight was over, Amirkhani was overcome with emotion as he acknowledged his mother in the crowd. The 26-year-old has a myriad of skills and he will be a serious contender or champion in the featherweight or lightweight division.
Remember where you heard it first.
Hein Controls Sajewski
To the delight of the Berlin fans, Nick Hein proved to be too much for Lukasz Sajewski. Striking was clearly the area where Hein proved his superiority. He landed 54 significant strikes to just 26 for Sajewski.
Hein distanced himself from Sajewski with every passing moment of the fight.
Hein moved to 2-1 in the UFC with the victory, but he has some work to do before he’ll be considered one of the brightest up and comers in the deep 155-pound division.
Sobotta Chokes out Kennedy
Peter Sobotta entered the Octagon fired up and he wasn’t there long. He closed distance with some effective punching and took Kennedy down.
Sobotta took the American’s back and transitioned to lock in both hooks. Kennedy did a good job avoiding the choke for a spell, but the persistent Sobotta would ultimately lock in the hold and force the tapout.
The win was Sobotta’s seventh in a row and second straight in the UFC. The 28-year-old German might have earned a top-15 opponent in his next bout.
This was an event filled with finishes and it was punctuated by Jedrzejczyk’s dominant performance. One can only hope UFC 189—which was relentlessly advertised during the event—is half as exciting.
Fight stats images from Jason Floyd of The MMA Report and Sportz Visionz taken from UFC.com
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