The Ultimate Fighting Championship returned to Berlin on Saturday for UFC Fight Night 69, where Joanna Jedrzejczyk continued her dominance, but not without overcoming a lot of grit and heart on the part of her opponent, Jessica Penne.
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Jedrzejczyk pummeled Penne from the opening bell, splitting a gash across the bridge of her nose with a short Muay Thai elbow. The cut continued to flow throughout the fight, as the Polish fighter poured on the punishment, but Penne wouldn’t go away.
Although she was hurt early in the fight – the cut came during the second round –Penne battled almost until the end of the third round before the referee had seen enough and stopped the fight. She was still standing when the fight was called, but offered no defense to Jedrzejczyk’s far superior stand-up skills.
Penne’s heart paid off, however, as she and Jedrzejczyk earned the Fight of the Night honors, which is accompanied by a $50,000 bonus check for each fighter, once they clear their fight-night drug tests.
The two Performance of the Night bonuses went to Makwan Amirkhan and Arnold Allen.
Amirkhan submitted Masio Fullen less than two minutes into their preliminary card headliner. Allen took full advantage of being called into action on short-notice, submitting Alan Omer early in the third round of their preliminary bout.
