Kicking off the UFC 190 pay-per-view was a #1 contender bout between the debuting former WSOF strawweight champion Jessica Aguilar and Brazil’s Claudia Gadelha. Following that were a pair of heavyweight bouts, with three of the four involved combatants coming off big knockout losses. Here’s how the fights went down:
Claudia Gadelha (13-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) def. Jessica Aguilar (19-5 MMA, 0-1 UFC) via unanimous decision (30-27 x3) – Women’s Strawweights
Gadelha’s crisp striking bloodied Aguilar up on the regular. She hurt Aguilar with a hard right hand in the 2nd round which forced the newcomer to retreat. To Aguilar’s credit, she fared better in the 2nd than she did in the opening round. Her most successful strike was the lead leg kick, which she kept landing at will in the 2nd and 3rd. Alas, it was too little too late, as Gadelha’s diverse attacks and successful usage of her takedowns (along with her takedown defense) clinched her a title shot and a rematch vs. reigning champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk.
Antonio Silva (19-7-1 MMA, 3-4-1 NC UFC) def. Soa Palelei (22-5 MMA, 4-3 UFC) via TKO (punches) at :41 of round 2 – Heavyweights
Bigfoot stuffed Palelei’s early takedown attempts and timed his strikes quite well to back Palelei up, but with Silva clinched up with Palelei against the fence, “The Hulk” took him down and went to work on his ground-and-pound attack on Bigfoot to close out round 1. Bigfoot came back in a big way by rocking Palelei with an uppercut and a knee. With Palelei covering up and badly hurt, Bigfoot threw more uppercuts and knees and picked up his first win since KOing Alistair Overeem in 2013.
Stefan Struve (26-7 MMA, 10-5 UFC) def. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (34-10-1 NC MMA, 5-6 UFC) via unanimous decision (30-27 x3) – Heavyweights
“Big Nog” was all about clinching with Struve’s back against the fence, and he sought to take Struve to the ground. When this was unsuccessful, Nogueira was stunned twice by hard right hands over the top from Struve. Nogueira continued to force the issue and try and contest the fight in close quarters. Both men landed good strikes but Struve had the slight advantage in the opening round. In the 2nd, Nogueira got a hold of Struve’s back and took him down and went for a rear-naked choke, but lost position and lost full-mount before Struve got back up. Struve controlled much of the standup and was buzzing Nogueira with jabs. Nogueira did take Struve down in round 3 but the tall Dutchman stood right back up. It was more of the same as Struve picked Nogueira apart, with Nogueira’s best shots not having any major effect on Struve. A big head kick by Struve was shrugged off by Nogueira but it was indicative of the flow of the fight. After the decision was read, Struve raised Nogueira’s up in the air.
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