There was hard fought action from start to finish in this UFC On ESPN 8 co-main event tonight, with Claudia Gadelha eventually emerging victorious against Angela Hill via split decision.
Round One:
Both women pumping out strikes from range without landing. Gadelha tries for a takedown, but doesn’t fully commit and it’s stuffed easily.
Hill steps into a nice knee to the body. Left hook counter from Gadelha and then a jab. Straight punch from Gadelha. She targets the body. One-two and a hook from Hill.
Gadelha with a head upstairs. Jab now as Hill comes in. left hand for Hill. Right hand from Hill, but a counter right lands for Gadelha too.
right hand sneaks through for Gadelha and then she’s into the clinch against the cage. Hill trying to defend the takedown here. Gadelha working hard for it. She stays patient and eventually takes Hill’s legs out from under her with a trip to get to the mat.
Gadelha gets to side control with around a minute to work. Hill works over to the cage. Gadelha goes knee on belly and lands some ground and pound. Hill gets to a knee. Gadelha traps her arm and looks for more punches, but Hill does stand and gets to the end of the round without behind taken down again.
Round two:
Body punch and one upstairs from Gadelha. Uppercut from Hill. Leg kick for Gadelha. Now punches. Left hook for Hill.
Right and a left hook from Hill. jab from Hill and Gadelha is now sporting a cut to her right eye.
Hill lands a good right hand and Gadelha goes down! Hill’s coaches shout at her to let Gadelha stand back up and she obliges.
Back to striking range. Gadelha seems ok. Hill staying busy with punches. Gadelha throws back and then attempts to get into the clinch and presses Hill to the cage. Hill doing well to reverse the clinch position. Knee to the body from Hill.
They go back to striking range now. Punch from Hill but a better counter hook from Gadelha. Strong right hand from Gadelha.
Gadelha lands that right hand again and now they both exchange a jab apiece. Hook from Hill. Gadelha reaches for a takedown and then thinks better of it. Hill with the hook again. She lands to the body now.
Hill with a kick to the body and then a right hook. Superwoman punch misses. Another front kick. Right hook for Hill and then a head kick attempt and more offense behind it to end the round aggressively.
Round Three:
Gadelha fakes the takedown and then misses with a punch. Short right hand for Gadelha. Now a leg kick. Exchange of punches in close.
Now right and left hook for Gadelha. Both landing short shots. Left hook from Hill. Good leg kick from Gadelha and Hill seemed to feel that one.
Nice right hand from Gadelha. Clubbing left hook from her now. Now a left hook from Hill. Body kick from Hill.
Elbow lands for Gadelha in close. Right hand from the Brazilian. Straight left for Hill. Another left lands. Reaching right from Gadelha.
jab for Hill. Now a right hand. Right hook for Hill. Short left hooks from Gadelha without much power. LEft hook scores for Hill.
Knee to the body from Hill. Now a head kick blocked. Overhand right from Hill. Good right for Gadelha. Hard left hook for Gadelha.
Inside leg kick for Gadelha. Counter left from Gadelha. Gadelha clinches up with 40 seconds remaining. Hill reverses the position. They break apart with Gadelha landing a good elbow. Now a right hand for her.
Final 10 seconds and they are both trading hard blows as they try to get that extra edge that might sway the judges in their decision.
Decision:
As has been a bit of a runnning theme tonight this was a close, hard-fought fight and in the end it’s Gadelha who has done just enough to earn a split decision win (29-28 x2, 28-29).
