Victoria Dudakova was clearly frustrated after suffering the first KO defeat in the UFC this year, and took it out on one of her coaches.
The strawweight starlet was stopped by way of ground and pound in the second round of her UFC Vegas 101 prelim fight with Fatima Kline. The result brings her UFC record to an even 2-2, with two defeats on the bounce after going unbeaten in her first eight pro fights.
For Kline, the decision for the promotion to re-sign her instead of putting her through Dana White’s Contender Series appears to be a wise one. She landed the first finish of the year for the promotion, and made up for a debut defeat to the more experienced Jasmine Jasudavicius.
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Fatima Kline KOs Victoria Dudakova to land first UFC stoppage of 2025
Heading into the octagon on Saturday night, Victoria Dudakova was a slight underdog, and appeared to show why in the early exchanges. She was unable to land the takedown she craved in the early stages of the first round.
She managed to get the fight down to the ground at the second time of asking, but Kline quickly pushed for a submission which saw her reverse position. All three judges scored the first round for the American, and she found similar success in the second.
Eventually, Kline managed to get on top in the second and with just over 30 seconds to go she got in position to rain down elbows. Referee Chris Tognoni gave Dudakova every chance to respond, but ended up having to call off the fight and award Kline a TKO win.
Victoria Dudakova appears to slap coach after second UFC defeat
Following the fight as they were preparing to have the official decision read out, Dudakova was attended to by her team. Her face was bloodied, and she needed assistance from her corner to readjust before heading to the center of the cage.
However, when one member of her team appeared to upset her during the process, cameras caught her appearing to throw a slap at her coach. It is unclear what exactly caused the incident, but it immediately caught the eye of social media users.
“Anyone know what they were saying to each other?” One fan wrote in the comments on social media after the fact. “Seemed like she was unhappy with the corner advice.”