Viviane Araujo made good on her Octagon debut earlier tonight (Sat., May 11, 2019) at UFC 237 from inside Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, when she finished women’s bantamweight fighter Talita Bernardo via third-round knockout (punch) on the Fight Pass “Prelims.”
Despite being a career strawweight, Araujo still managed to move up to the bantamweight level and impose her will on Bernardo on the feet. Bernardo kept trying to tie things up and bring the fight to the ground, but Araujo kept her distance, landed with hard punches, and eventually scored a final blow with under a minute remaining in the third round.
Check out the video highlight above courtesy of UFC/ESPN.
With this performance, Araujo enters the UFC mix in devastating fashion. The 32-year-old finisher announced she’ll be moving back down to 115 pounds following this impressive win so that should strike some fear into her fellow strawweights. Few female fighters are able to end a fight with one single punch, but Araujo seems to have that dialed in.
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