Cris Cyborg earned a clean sweep on the scorecards tonight at UFC 240 against Felicia Spencer, but her opponent will earn plaudits for her toughness throughout the 15 minute encounter.
Round One:
Cyborg looking to throw early, but Spencer does land a punch and a body kick in that early exchange. Punch and a kick for Cyborg.
Cyborg shrugs off a takedown attempt. Cyborg continues to apply pressure and swings a little wildly, but she’s already sporting a cut to her face from an elbow.
Cyborg lands hard and Spencer clinches up and presses her opponent to the cage. Not much happening here though and they eventually get back to striking range.
Cyborg unleashes a barrage of blows now and Spencer has to back up but shows a good chin. Hard leg kick knocks Spencer off-balance. Cyborg’s face bloodied though.
Another hard leg kick for Cyborg. She connects with a solid punch too. Leg kick for Cyborg. Good straight right for Cyborg. Now a body kick and then a hard right hand that’s taken well by Spencer.
Spencer lands an elbow. She’s proving to be durable so far. She gets caught with a couple of punches again though. Punch for Spencer but then eats a flurry of punches in return.
Spencer goes into the clinch against the cage, but Cyborg landing knees to the body as she does so. Spencer not able to get Cyborg down here, but is stifling her offense for now.
However Cyborg manages to reverse the position late in the round and lands a big knee and hard punches.
Round Two:
Leg kick for Cyborg. Hard body kick now, but Spencer catches it and drives Cyborg against the cage. She tries for the takedown, but it doesn’t work out. She springs straight back up though and is back into the clinch.
Knee to the head for cyborg as Spencer continues trying for a takedown Cyborg reverses the clinch though, but then Spencer shows her strength to reverse again.
Spencer decides to pull guard and pays for it as Cyborg blasts down big punches to the head. Spencer with an upkick and Cyborg backs up for a moment.
Cyborg going back down now and landing punches. Almost north-south position here. Cyborg opts to stand up and back away.
Nice left hand then a left hook from Cyborg. One-two for Spencer. Body kick from Spencer is partially caught. leg kick for Cyborg.
leg kick again for Cyborg and then another big strike. jab for her and then a knee to the body. jab again. Good punch to the body and then a superman punch. Spencer tries a spinning kick to end thhe round, but it misses.
Round Three:
Leg kick for Cyborg. Spencer tries to step in and gets clipped with a few hooks. Right hook for Cyborg and a leg kick.
Jab from Cyborg. Another leg kick. Now a one-two. Excellent jab from Cyborg. Spencer charges into the clinch, but Cyborg greets her with a knee to the body and punches to back her off.
jab lands again. And again along with a leg kick. Head kick from Spencer, but only glances Cyborg. Spencer clinches up and eats knees to the body.
Spencer working hard to keep this clinch, but Cyborg reverses her and lands big knees and then even bigger punches that at last seem to have Spencer appearing a bit hurt, but to her credit she recovers quickly.
Cyborg working in the clinch but then back out to striking range. Back to landing that crisp jab. Now a leg kick. jab for Spencer, but punches in return from Cyborg.
Jab and then a leg kick for Cyborg. Now a punch to the body. One-two for Cyborg. Leg kick for Spencer. leg kicks for Cyborg. Now ripping the body.
Right hands for Cyborg and then a kick to the body. series of punches to the body. Another hard punch to the body, big kick. Cyborg throwing everything behind some final punches and a head kick, but Spencer just won’t go down.
Decision:
No doubt about the winner here, Cyborg was by far the better striker and earns the unanimous decision victory (30-27 x3), but Spencer proved to be exceptionally durable and never gave up fighting from start to finish.
