Tracy Cortez Edges Justine Kish To Split Decision Victory At UFC Vegas 24
The UFC touches down at the Apex Center in Las Vegas once again tonight, April 17, 2021, for UFC Vegas 24, where top middleweight contenders Robert Whittaker and Kelvin Gastelum go to battle in the five round main event.
These two were scheduled for a five round clash two years ago at UFC 234, when Whittaker was the champion and Gastelum was challenging for the belt. Whittaker of course pulled out the day of the bout, but they finally get to face off against one another tonight, most likely for the No. 1 contendership at 185 lbs.
The second bout of the main card, the one we’re discussing in this piece, came in the women’s flyweight division between Tracy Cortez and Justine Kish.
Cortez came into the bout with a record of 8-1, being on an eight-fight win streak after losing her first professional bout. That includes a 2-0 run thus far into her UFC career.
Kish on the other hand hasn’t had as much success inside the octagon, going 2-3 thus far, making it to 7-3 as a professional, but she does have a victory over Nina Ansaroff, and she did go 22-2 in professional kickboxing.
This was bound to be a difficult bout to predict.
Continue reading to see how Tracy Cortez versus Justine Kish went down:
Official Result: Tracey Cortez def. Justine Kish via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)
Round 1
Kish presses forward with heavy offense early, and attempts a trip takedown after landing a series of punches and elbows. Not long after however, Cortez trips Kish and is now on top of her.
Cortez is landing heavy hammerfists from top position, while Kish is attempting armbars with no success.
Kish tries to get up after her failed submission attempts and first ends up in bottom side control, before having her back taken. Cortez locks in the body triangle and rides the remaining minute out controlling from her back.
Round 2
Kish lands some nice punches to start round two as well, but allows Cortez to tie up with her.
From her double underhooks, Cortez was able to shake Kish down and take her back. She doesn’t keep her down long this time though, as Kish immediately shows some urgency.
Kish is able to get her kicks going as the round goes on later, and is having success with her striking overall. Cortez is right there giving it right back though, this is a very even fight thus far.
Round 3
Kish gets over-eager and Cortez takes her down at the start of round three. She tries to get up quickly, but gets her back taken and eats some heavy shots from bottom turtle position.
Kish gets back to her feet, but nearly gets submitted with a guillotine choke. After defending the choke, she drops Cortez with a right hook with about 60 seconds left, and the remaining minute showed the two throwing down until the final bell. What a competitive bout this turned out to be.
