Irene Aldana delivered a never-seen-before TKO finish in the final round of her fight with Macy Chiasson tonight at UFC 279, rendering her unable to continue with a perfectly placed heel kick to the liver from her back.
Round One:
Low kick for Aldana. She misses with another and Chiasson counters with one of her own. Now a head kick attempt from Chiasson.
Another leg kick for Aldana as Chiasson was looking for a punch. Missed front kick upstairs from Chiasson.
Chiasson clinches up and presses Aldana up against the cage. Aldana breaks free and Aldana tries to greet her with punches, but doesn’t land cleanly.
Jab for Aldana. Now a right hand. Left hook for Chiasson. Inside leg kick for Chiasson and then attempts a higher kick.
Solid outside leg kick from Aldana. Missed kick upstairs from Chiasson. Chiasson reaching for the legs as she tries to set up a takedown, but nothing doing.
Good straight right for Aldana. Head kick attempt from Chiasson looked more threatening than the previous ones.
Aldana with a right hand, then a left and another right. Chiasson drives forward into a takedown attempt, but Aldana ends up threatening with an armbar. It looks bad for Chiasson, but somehow she survives.
Aldana on top now and looking to set up ground-and-pound, then goes for another armbar. Chiasson breaks free from that again and Aldana ends the round landing some solid punches.
Round Two:
Head kick attempt for Chiasson. Now a flurry of straight punches that mostly come off the guard. Chiasson wades in with more punches now.
left hand lands for Chiasson. Now she goes in on a takedown against the cage and she lands it. Aldana goes for a leg lock and is using it to get on top, but her back is exposed for now and Chiasson is trying to take it. Awkward spot here, but Aldana manages to land a couple of nice elbows in the process and Chiasson has to hide her face behind Aldana’s back.
Finally they scramble out of that and they battle for position, with Chiasson managing to almost get her back and land some strikes.
Now Chiasson does fully get Aldana’s back with the body triangle in and starts to land rapid-fire elbows, though there’s not much torque in them.
Chiasson starts to work for a rear-naked choke, but then decides to get on top and rain down more elbow strikes – harder this time.
Elbow strikes to the thigh as well now from Chiasson from half-guard. Chiasson trying to set up an arm triangle now, but it’s not happening and she lands a few more punches in the final 10 seconds of the round.
Round Three:
Leg kick for Chiasson. Now a one-two for her. Aldana with jab, but Chiasson lands a hard punch in response. Chiasson tries for a takedown, but it’s stuffed.
Head kick attempt from Chiasson. Solid right hand for Aldana and Chiasson returns with a left hand of her own.
Another head kick attempt for Chiasson. Overhand left for Chiasson. Now she goes for a takedown in the center of the Octagon and lands it.
Chiasson in her full guard but then opts to stand over Aldana and suddenly crumples to the mat in pain as her opponent kicked out at her. It’s not clear exactly what happened at first, but the ref is waving off the fight!
A replay clarifies exactly what happened – Aldana threw a heel kick from her back that landed perfectly to the liver of Chiasson and completely shut her down, resulting in a TKO victory at 2.21mins of the final round.
