Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Mallory Martin had to dig deep to capture a victory earlier tonight (Sat., Aug. 29, 2020) at UFC Vegas 8 live on ESPN+ from inside UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada, but the rising contender battled through adversity to hand Hannah Cifers another Octagon loss via second-round submission (rear-naked choke).
Cifers came out aggressive coming into this fight riding a three-fight losing streak and it paid off early. She caught Martin with a beautiful overhand right that dropped the young fighter to the canvas. Cifers poured on heavy combinations along the cage and knees to the body, but Martin survived the round.
In Round 2, Cifers was absolutely spent. She had unloaded everything she had in the first to lock in the finish which allowed Martin to score an easy takedown along the cage. From there, Martin sliced through Cifers’ defense, gained full mount, turned her over, and secured the rear-naked choke submission finish.
Check out the stoppage above and the first-round knockdown below, both courtesy of UFC/ESPN.
SHOCKWAVE @HannahCifersMMA trying to end it early.
Watch now on @ESPN & #ESPNPlus pic.twitter.com/NZllYJC9cV
— UFC (@ufc) August 29, 2020
With this performance, Martin gets back into the UFC win column after getting submitted by Virna Jandiroba last December. The 26-year-old prospect nearly lost this fight in the first round, but sometimes it’s better to show off resilience inside of the Octagon. Look for her to step back inside of the cage by year’s end and continue her push up the 115-pound ladder.
For complete UFC Vegas 8 results and highlights click here.