Irene Aldana KO’s Macy Chiasson late with upkick to the body at UFC 279
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to us tonight, September 10, 2022, for UFC 279, going down live on pay-per-view from the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada.
Considering former main eventer Khamzat Chimaev (11-0) missed weight by 7.5 lbs, weighing in at 178.5 lbs despite the 171 lb limit, we had a bit of a change in match ups. In fact, there are a record six catchweight contests going down tonight.
The Ultimate Fighter 5 winner Nate Diaz (20-13) was initially slated to face no. 3 ranked Chimaev in the main event, but will now face former interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson (25-7) in the five round main event of the evening.
Co-headlining the event was supposed to be Ferguson facing no. 14 ranked welterweight contender Li Jingliang (19-7), and Daniel Rodriguez (16-2) was slated against Kevin Holland (23-7-0-1).
In the aftermath of this, Chimaev will face Holland in the five round co-main event of the evening, and Rodriguez will face Jingliang in tonight’s feature fight, marking the first time ever the UFC put on an event with two five round non-title bouts.
Our second bout on the main card tonight, following our light-heavyweight encounter between Johnny Walker and Ion Cutelaba, was a 140 lb catchweight bout between ranked bantamweight contenders Irene Aldana (13-6) and Macy Chiasson (8-2).
Each of these women came into this bout tonight having won just one-straight.
Continue reading to see how this 14o lb contest went down:
Official Result: Irene Aldana def. Macy Chiasson via KO (upkick to body) at 2:21 of round three
Chiasson’s using very good movement, throwing a lot of volume from kicks of all sorts to crisp straight punches. She shoots in on a takedown and gets her arm locked up for a solid two minutes.
Aldana torques on her arm, readjusting, losing it, resecuring it. We all thought it was over.
Aldana is unable to secure the submission however, but still remains on top reigning down some vicious punches and elbows to end the first round. That was a big round for Aldana.
Chiasson comes out with a furious pace to start the second and the two end up in a scramble with Aldana going for a leg. This results with Aldana getting her back taken, and though she’s able to get out of Chiasson’s body triangle, she can’t escape bottom position and she’s getting beat on.
This was an equally as big of a round for Chiasson.
It all comes down to the final five minutes. The first two minutes of the third are back and forth, each woman landing a couple hard punches each, until Chiasson double legs Aldana to her back.
Aldana tries to wrap up an immediate triangle or armbar but is unable to secure anything and now she has three more minutes to make something happen in a very important round. Chiasson postures up and Aldana upkicks her, landing the heel to Chiasson’s liver, folding her instantly.
That was really something, we’ve never seen anything like that before. Chiasson was on her way to victory with two more minutes of top control.
Irene Aldana is now 14-6 as a professional, and she’s now on a two-fight win streak (7-1 in last eight), both victories coming via third-round knockout.
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