The UFC Women’s Strawweight division received another shakeup in Krakow, as Maryna Moroz upset then-No. 6-ranked fighter, Joanne Calderwood. Moroz continued to make her presence felt as she went Conor McGregor and called out Joanna Jedrzejczyk in front of all of her countrymen.
“I consider myself to be ready to be able to already fight for the title. I think I showed in this fight that I’m ready to be able to get the win,” stated the 23-year old Ukrainian boxer after the fight. (h/t Mike Bohn at MMAJunkie.com)
During her fight against Calderwood, Moroz showed off her striking ability by launching a few head kicks and landing a few punch combos. Moroz then rocked Calderwood with a right hand, sending her reeling back to the fence. Moroz finished the fight by pulling guard and eventually made Calderwood tapout via armbar in 1:30 of the first round.
And it wasn’t like Moroz disguised the armbar. Calderwood had to have known it was coming, yet Moroz still was able to execute.
To Calderwood‘s credit, she isn’t the first victim of a Moroz armbar. Including her victory in Krakow, Moroz has five wins via armbar out of her six victories.
Before the fight, Bloody Elbow’s Zane Simon called her a “one-trick pony” and unlike Ronda Rousey, Moroz “is getting the armbar or taking some damage.”
But just like Rousey, Moroz is establishing the armbar as part of her brand. She has successfully executed it in all of her wins except one, where she won by TKO.
Here is one from her previous fight at an XFC card in Brazil on November 2014 against Karine Silva:
According to Mike Bohn, Moroz wants her next fight to be for the title. Of course, she is going to have to get in line and defeat fighters such as Rose Namajunas and Claudia Gadelha. However, going from dominating fighters on the regional scene to running over an undefeated Top 10 fighter is surely going to get some notice.
As for calling Moroz a “one-trick pony,” didn’t we also say that about Rousey back in the day? No one is saying that she will be the next Rousey, but Moroz is bringing more attention to what is already becoming an exciting division.
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