UFC Fight Night 102 results: Juliana Lima grinds past late replacement J.J. Aldrich

ALBANY, N.Y. – Juliana Lima managed to plant J.J. Aldrich on her back early and often, and that proved to be the difference in their otherwise even bout. Lima (9-3 MMA, 3-2 UFC) used body lock takedowns and an aggressive ground game to outpoint Aldrich (4-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC) en route to a unanimous decision victory.

The women’s strawweight bout opened up the preliminary card of today’s UFC Fight Night 102 event at Times Union Center in Albany, N.Y. It streamed on UFC Fight Pass.

For Lima, the takedown-heavy approach had dueling benefits as this fight wore on. Early on it succeeded in nullifying Aldrich’s offense, forcing her to spend almost the entire first round fending off Lima’s ground-and-pound and struggling to get back to her feet.

But as the fight wore on, it also seemed to have made Aldrich tentative on feet, as she seemed wary of unleashing her full striking arsenal and leaving herself vulnerable to more takedowns.

That played right into Lima’s game plan, leaving Aldrich unable to capitalize on opportunities when she did manage to keep the fight standing. That allowed Lima to strike her way into clinches against the fence, where she easily transitioned to one takedown after another, shutting down any hope of effective offense for Aldrich.

When the judges turned in their scorecards after three rounds, all three of them had it as a clean sweep for Lima, who took the victory with scores of 30-27 across the board.

Lima’s victory is her first since a decision loss to Carla Esparza in April. Aldrich’s loss snaps a three-fight winning streak outside the organization.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 102 results include:

• Juliana Lima def. J.J. Aldrich via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 102, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(MMAjunkie’s Matt Erickson contributed to this report on site in Albany.)