Several female fighters stole the show during the UFC Vegas 104 preliminary card.
In the first fight of Saturday night’s card, 6-0 flyweight Yuneisy Duben saw her hype train get quickly derailed as she suffered a brutal head kick knockout loss against Carli Judice
Amazingly, the very next fight featured two women and an even more impressive one-shot finish as Priscila Cachoeira obliterated Josiane Nunes with an uppercut to leave MMA fans terrified.
It was the first time there has been back-to-back first-round knockouts in female UFC fights.
- READ MORE: ‘That’s it’… Marvin Vettori breaks his silence in emotional first statement after Roman Dolidze loss
Sam Hughes gets emotional after UFC Vegas 104 win
Sam Hughes wasn’t able to score a scary KO like the first two female winners at UFC Vegas 104.
The strawweight star had to grind out a split decision victory over Stephanie Luciano at the UFC APEX.
Afterwards she spoke with UFC Hall of Famer Michael Bisping, who had a cheeky response when one fighter questioned his commentary skills during an awkward post-fight interview on Saturday night.
‘Sampage’ almost burst into tears when Bisping asked her about Fortis MMA head coach, Sayif Saud.
With the help of Hughes, the respected MMA trainer picked up his 100th win as a coach.
“He believed in me when I was 0-3 coming to Fortis,” she said while trying to swallow the lump in her throat.
“I’m a little bit emotional. You know, a lot of people counted me out. I counted myself out, but he told me I was great on day one in the gym.
“So, a lot of credit goes to him. A lot of credit goes to Charles Byrd. Thanks guys.”
What’s next for Sam Hughes?
As Hughes mentioned, her UFC career started with three consecutive defeats that prompted a gym change.
Since then, the 32-year-old has turned things around by winning five of her last seven fights.
Now, she’s on a two-fight unbeaten streak that has her looking towards the strawweight top 15.
Zhang Weili beat Tatiana Suarez at UFC 312 last month to cement her spot as the best 115lb fighter in the world.
Hughes is a way off challenging the Chinese superstar for UFC gold, but she’s now in a position to begin climbing the rankings without worrying that a setback could see her run in MMA’s premier promotion come to an end.