UFC 185 results, photos: Germaine de Randamie makes easy work of Larissa Pacheco

Germaine de Randamie

DALLAS – After a disastrous first round, Larissa Pacheco’s corner implored her to move her head more. When she didn’t, Germaine de Randamie’s right hand moved it for her.

De Randamie bounced Pacheco (10-2 MMA, 0-2 UFC) from one side of the cage to the other until referee Don Turnage jumped in for a merciful TKO stoppage at 2:02 of Round 2, handing de Randamie (5-3 MMA, 2-1 UFC) an easy victory.

The women’s bantamweight bout opened up the preliminary card of today’s UFC 185 event at American Airlines Center in Dallas. It streamed on UFC Fight Pass ahead of additional prelims on FX and a main card on pay-per-view.

The difference in striking skills was evident early on in this fight, as de Randamie wasted no time unloading on Pacheco with one vicious punch combo after another. Pacheco took the abuse well, and didn’t shy away from any striking exchanges, but neither did she seem remotely close to turning things around as long as the fight stayed standing.

With that in mind, Pacheco’s corner urged her to take the fight to the floor, but her early attempts to do so were easily thwarted by the bigger, stronger de Randamie. And once the Dutch striker had established her range in the first round, she spent the second round teeing off on Pacheco with brutal right hands.

A brutal uppercut followed by a dose of overhand rights sent Pacheco reeling into the fence, which is when Turnage decided he’d seen enough and moved in to save Pacheco from any further damage.

“I just wanted to knock her out,” de Randamie said. “I know she’s really tough, so that was my goal going in. There’s a reason I’m called ‘The Iron Lady,’ and I wanted to show the world what that reason was. I think I broke her arm with that kick. I was hitting her with hard, clean jabs and really trying to push the pace and go for the finish. I know that’s what the fans wanted, and I’m happy I was able to get it done for them. I’m looking forward to going home and seeing what the UFC has in store for me next.”

The win is de Randamie’s first since a TKO loss to Amanda Nunes in November of 2013. Pacheco has now lost two straight in the UFC.

Up-to-the-minute UFC 185 results include:

• Germaine de Randamie def. Larissa Pacheco via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 2:02

For complete coverage of UFC 185, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(MMAjunkie’s John Morgan contributed to this report on site in Dallas.)