UFC on FOX 19 results: Rose Namajunas avenges loss to Tecia Torres with decision

Rose Namajunas

TAMPA, Fla. – For three rounds, Rose Namajunas and Tecia Torres waded into each other in a frantic fit of violence.

When it was over, picking a winner seemed like it might come down to more guesswork than science, but all three judges saw it for Namajunas (5-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC), who avenged her earlier loss to Torres (7-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) with a unanimous decision victory by scores of 29-28 across the board.

The women’s strawweight bout was the co-main event of today’s UFC on FOX 19 event at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Fla. It aired on FOX following prelims on FOX and UFC Fight Pass.

For Namajunas, the challenge of this fight lay in trying to find a way to use her lanky, creative striking against a powerful, explosive opponent who waited like a loaded spring for her moment to attack. Torres stung Namajunas with a powerful left hook in the first, and managed to push her around the cage at some points early on, leaving Namajunas looking slightly lost in the opening frame.

But Namajunas’ saving grace in this fight may have been her ability to come on strong late in each round, threatening to steal rounds she may have lost and removing all doubt in rounds that were close.

She ended the first round with a takedown and the beginnings of a ground-and-pound attack. After controlling much of the second, she came on strong with a blistering striking combo that sent Torres reeling back in the final seconds. And in the third, with the fight still up for grabs, a well-timed takedown helped Namajunas notch a late advantage.

Though Torres was never overwhelmed, and frequently matched Namajunas’ aggression with stinging shots of her own, she lacked that extra bit of pop in key moments down the stretch. In a fight this close, that might have been all it took to sway the judges, all of whom gave the bout to Namajunas on their scorecards.

Namajunas has now won three straight in the UFC, with her last loss coming in her UFC women’s strawweight title bout against Carla Esparza in 2014. Torres loses for the first time in her pro career.

Up-to-the-minute UFC on FOX 19 results include:

• Rose Namajunas def. Tecia Torres via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Khabib Nurmagomedov def. Darrell Horcher via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 3:38
• Cub Swanson def. Hacran Dias via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Michael Chiesa def. Beneil Dariush via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 1:20h
• Raquel Pennington def. Bethe Correia via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Santiago Ponzinibbio def. Court McGee via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 4:15
• Michael Graves def. Randy Brown via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 2:31
• John Dodson def. Manny Gamburyan via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 0:47
• Cezar Ferreira def. Oluwale Bamgbose via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-27)
• Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos def. Omari Akhmedov via TKO (knees) – Round 3, 3:03

For complete coverage of UFC on FOX 19, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(MMAjunkie’s Matt Erickson and Steven Marrocco contributed to this report on site in Tampa.)