UFC Fight Night 71 results: Holly Holm outstrikes, outscores Marion Reneau

SAN DIEGO – Holly Holm grew progressively more comfortable as the fight wore on and ultimately earned a unanimous-decision victory over Marion Reneau.

Although she didn’t land with overwhelming accuracy, Holm (9-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC), a former pro boxer who made a heavily publicized UFC debut earlier this year, was clearly the more effective and active striker and cruised to a decision victory over Reneau (6-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC).

The women’s bantamweight bout was part of the main card of today’s UFC Fight Night 71 event at Valley View Casino Center in San Diego. It aired on FOX Sports 1 following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.

The first round was a standup affair, and Holm proved far less tentative than in her UFC debut. She mixed in an array of kicks with her punches, but neither fighter had the right range. Collectively, they connected on just a quarter of their total strikes.

In the second round, Holm was again the aggressor, and a few high kicks found their mark. Reneau was game and returned fire, but her accuracy was again an issue, especially as Holm began to find her mark and land a series of combinations, including some side kicks to the body. Still, far more shots missed than landed, and the crowd grew a bit restless heading into the final frame.

Once there, though, Holm upped her output and attacked Reneau’s lead leg with a barrage of kicks. Reneau’s few takedown attempts were largely unsuccessful, and Holm had little issue keeping the fight upright.

In the end, she earned the unanimous-decision win via 30-27, 30-26 and 29-28 scores.

Holm successfully built off a narrow UFC-debut win over Raquel Pennington and remains undefeated in her MMA career. Reneau, who scored a pair of upsets in her two UFC fights, snaps a five-fight winning streak.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 71 results include:

• Holly Holm def. Marion Reneau via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 29-28)
• Manny Gamburyan def. Scott Jorgensen via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Kevin Lee def. James Moontasri via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 2:56
• Alan Jouban def. Matt Dwyer via unanimous decision (29-27, 29-27, 29-27)
• Sam Sicilia def. Yaotzin Meza via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
• Jessica Andrade def. Sarah Moras via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Rani Yahya def. Masanori Kanehara via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Sean Strickland def. Igor Araujo via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-26)
• Kevin Casey def. Ildemar Alcantara via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Lyman Good def. Andrew Craig via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 3:37

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 71, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

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