Paige VanZant took a round to find her rhythm, but she ousted Bec Rawlings with a highlight-reel TKO in the second round Saturday night in Vancouver at UFC on Fox 21.
The fight started with VanZant darting out to meet Rawlings. She then employed low-percentage strikes such as a jumping switch kick. Rawlings was well out of range, but VanZant was showing off her skills. Rawlings looked like the more composed fighter and was forcing VanZant to circle on the outside.
But "12-Gauge" finally clinched up with Rawlings and landed a good knee in her center. Rawlings responded with a knee of her own when the two broke free. Each time VanZant tried to close the distance, Rawlings scored with crisp punches.
VanZant showed plenty of movement, but getting inside her opponent's range proved difficult.
Rawlings came forward toward the end of the first round, and VanZant scored. The last meaningful exchange saw VanZant score on a kick-punch combination. She seemed to find her range at the end of the frame.
The start of the second confirmed that notion.
VanZant opened the round with a low leg kick. Then the aforementioned jumping switch kick found its mark. Rawlings hit the canvas in a heap, and VanZant pummeled her with hammerfists until the referee stopped the fight at just 17 seconds into the second round.
Here's a look at the final blow, courtesy of Fox Sports: UFC, and a sampling of reaction to it from around Twitter:
.@PaigeVanZant hits a RIDICULOUS jumping switch roundhouse kick KO! #UFCVancouver https://t.co/kXd4hrd3Tx
— FOX Sports: UFC (@UFCONFOX) August 28, 2016
And 10,000 people with lame “She shouldn’t have been on DWTS” tweets queued up after R1 hit delete.
— Brent Brookhouse (@brentbrookhouse) August 28, 2016
She really has to stop throwing those wild kWHAAAAAT
— Bleacher Report MMA (@BR_MMA) August 28, 2016
Hahaha. Justin Buchholz tells Paige VanZant to stop throwing jumping/spinning stuff. She promptly KOs Bec Rawlings with jumping switch kick.
— Robert Sargent (@MMARising) August 28, 2016
The loss puts Rawlings back at the end of the pack, but she didn’t look bad in the opening round. She simply got caught by a rare technique that cleaned her clock.
Fightmetric.com's Michael Carroll put VanZant's win in context:
Paige VanZant now has the 2nd-most wins in UFC SW competition with 4. Her 3 finishes are the most in the division. #UFCVancouver
— Michael Carroll (@MJCflipdascript) August 28, 2016
Aside from the numbers, this was an important victory for VanZant. After Rose Namajunas submitted her last December, she needed a big performance to keep momentum as a top-end prospect for the strawweight division.
This performance accomplished that goal.
VanZant told Brian Stann in the cage, during the post-fight interview, that she is angling for a spot on the December card in Sacramento. That seems as good a spot as any to continue the forward trajectory of VanZant’s hype train.
