Amanda Lemos rebounds from defeat with win over Mackenzie Dern in UFC 298 preliminary main event
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to us tonight, February 17, 2024, for UFC 298, going down live from the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
Headlining the event is a featherweight championship bout between Alexander Volkanovski (26-3) and no. 3 ranked Ilia Topuria (14-0).
Co-headlining the event is a 185 lb encounter between no. 3 ranked former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker (24-7) and no. 6 ranked former title challenger Paulo Costa (14-2).
Headlining the preliminary card tonight was a women’s strawweight bout between no. 3 ranked former title challenger Amanda Lemos (14-3-1) and no. 7 ranked BJJ world champion Mackenzie Dern (13-5).
Lemos had gone 7-2 with five finishes since her UFC debut back in 2017, up until she went into her title shot with current champion Weili Zhang back in August of 2023 at UFC 292, a fight she lost via unanimous decision.
Dern on the other hand, following a 1-1 span in five round fights against no. 1 ranked Yan Xiaonan and no. 12 ranked Angela Hill, where she secured five total 10-8 rounds, lost her last fight to former strawweight champion Jessica Andrade.
Continue reading to see how this 115 lb affair went down:
Official Result: Amanda Lemos def. Mackenzie Dern via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Lemos lands a hard calf kick once the bout begins, landing a second shortly following. She spins Dern around with another calf kick about 90 seconds in, severely compromising her lead leg early. Dern perfectly times a double leg takedown about two minutes into the opening round and remains on top until the bell sounds.
Dern rushes into a nasty right hand that drops her early in round two, Lemos following up with a vicious attack that could have, and perhaps should have stopped the fight. Dern took an absurd amount of damage in the second, though she did secure a beautiful sweep with about 30 seconds left on the clock and ended the round on top.
Dern knocks Lemos down in the opening ten seconds of the third and final round with an overhand right. She’d end up on her back in an exchange, searching for an armbar that after a scramble saw her achieve top position. Dern remained on top threatening submissions for the vast majority of round three.
After clearly winning rounds one and three, though just as clearly losing the second 10-8, this fight probably should have been a draw. There’s no justification for giving Lemos a 10-9 in round two, it was a savage beating she dished out, but there’s also no justification for giving her rounds one or three.
That being said, the fight probably should have been over in round two, and as such, congratulations to Amanda Lemos on her victory tonight in UFC 298’s preliminary main event.
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