Ketlen Vieira fought fairly cautiously against Miesha Tate tonight at UFC Fight Night 198, yet still managed to leave her opponent bloodied up on her way to a unanimous decision victory.
Round One:
The bantamweight main event is underway in Las Vegas!
Missed front kick to the body from Tate. Exchange in close and Vieira seemed to land cleaner there. Tate a little off-balance as more punches come her way.
Nice jab from Vieira. Again a solid jab from her. Tate yet to find her range, but Vieira certainly has.
Tate with a one-two. she misses a leg kick. Jab for Vieira. Push kick from Tate after a missed punch. Grazing left hook from Vieira.
Nice one-two from Tate, but as she tries to press forward and capitalize on that Vieira lands a counter that backs her up.
Feints from Tate. Vieira comes up short with her punches. Tate drives forward and lands a few good punches and then clinches up against the cage. Vieira able to break free while taking a knee from Tate.
Vieira with a combination now and tries to clinch up, but Tate turns into her and soon backs away.
Vieira attempts a takedown, but Tate does well to stuff that and end the round on top with Vieira on her knees.
Round Two:
Tate reaches for punches, but eats counters. Vieira lands again upstairs. Head kick attempt from Tate doesn’t pay off.
Stepping jab from Tate. Vieira lands a punch, but Tate does connect too. Leg kick for Tate. Jab from Vieira. Heavy right hand scores for Tate and Vieira lands one too.
leg kick for Tate and gets caught by a counter punch. Body punch from Tate. Front kick to the head lands for Tate but wasn’t quite flush. Viera lands a punch and Tate marches forward landing left and right hands. Vieira taking them well though.
Hard right hand from Tate off a jab, but she does eat a punch in the process. Leg kick attempt from Vieira and Tate attempted to work a takedown off it without success.
Body punch from Tate. Leg kick for her. Now a jab. A right hand partially gets through. She lands a right with more power now. Final jab from Tate to end the round.
Round Three:
A couple of punches from Tate come off the arms. Inside leg kick from the former champ. Now a low outside kick. Vieira with a punching combo as Tate was off-balance.
Jab for Vieira, but then suffers an eyepoke and gets a little time to recover.
Tate presses forward but eats a jab. Now she lands her own jab. Nice stepping jab for Tate. she just misses with a power right hand.
Inside leg kick from Tate and a jab from Vieira. Body punches from Tate. Jab for Vieira again. Grazing right hand from Tate. Short right hook from Vieira.
Body kick from Tate and Vieira looking to counter off that. Jabs from Tate after a brief clinch. Vieira with an uppercut and left hook combo.
Outside leg kick from Tate. Body punch from Tate, solid punches on the counter from Vieira. Tate drives into a takedown attempt against the cage. Tate drives to pull her down, but it doesn’t pay off and they back up to striking range.
Right hand from Tate, but she’s a bit off-balance when after she throws strikes at times and that can leave her a bit exposed.
Tate pushing the pace though as she punches into the clinch and looks to land a series of knees to end the round.
Round Four:
Jab for Vieira. Tate pressing forward with urgency. She land a jab to the body. Now a front kick to the body. Jab and a heavy right hand from Tate.
Inside leg kick from Tate. Right hand from Vieira. Both ladies land a punch apiece. Tate into a takedown nicely and lands it. Vieira immediately scrambles and stands with Tate still clinched up and looking for another takedown against the cage.
Tate with some punches in close from the clinch. Vieira breaks free. Jab for her. Exchange of punches and Vieira got the better connection there, again due to Tate being a bit off-balance.
Thai clinch and Tate lands a knee to the midsection, but Vieira lands a few punches to the body too.
leg kick from Tate and gets caught with a right hand counter. Tate tries for a body kick, but Vieira’s punch combo lands instead.
Brief clinch and Vieira lands an elbow as they break. Tate into the thai clinch again and tries for a knee. Final 10 seconds and Tate does land a good knee to the head.
Round Five:
One-two for Vieira. She lands again. leg kick for Tate. Push kick from Tate. Punch from Vieira. Tate clinches up, but Vieira pushes her away.
Body punch from Tate and an uppercut as she was trying to move back into the clinch. Two punches land for Vieira.
Body kick from Tate. Knee for Tate to the body, but eats a punch too. Right hand from Tate, but Vieira connects with an uppercut.
Jab for Vieira. Good left hand from Tate. KNee for Vieira to the body. Right hand seems to have burst open Tate’s nose.
Nice jab from Tate. She lands it again. Right hand for Tate as Vieira also threatens. Overhand to the temple from Tate.
Good jabs for Vieira keep Tate at bay. Right hand from Tate. Body punches from Tate. Tate loading up on the overhand but misses.
Vieira pumping the jab out to keep Tate at range. Tate pressing forward, landing a body kick and a punch. She continues to give chase, but Vieira stays at range until the final horn. Tate’s face is a bit of a mess with blood and swelling, but we’ll have to see how the judges score this one as it was competitive.
Decision:
So, Vieira looked to be the more assured and powerful striker here and clearly did more damage, but Tate was pushing the pace and staying active, while also having the better of the grappling exchanges on the few occasions the did come about.
In the end though it’s Vieira who emerges with a unanimous decision victory (48-47 x2, 49-46).
