Taila Santos, Molly McCann (©UFC)
Taila Santos, 27, of Balneário Camboriú, Santa Catarina, Brazil earned her first victory in the Ultimate Fighting Championship in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The Brazilian mixed martial artist was one of the “UFC on ESPN 13” winners.
Competing professionally since 2013, Santos made her UFC debut at “UFC Fight Night 144” on February 2, 2019. She lost via split decision to Mara “Maravilla” Romero Borella, 34, of Italy.
Featuring 11 MMA matches, “UFC on ESPN 13” took place on the UFC Fight Island on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi on July 15, 2020 in the United States or July 16, 2020 in the UAE. In the eighth bout, Santos fought Molly “Meatball” McCann-Pearson, 30, of Liverpool, England in the women’s flyweight division.
Rich Mitchell served as the referee. After three five-minute rounds, the flyweight contest was left in the hands of the three judges, who all scored it 30-27 in favor of the fighter in the blue corner.
In the end, Mitchell raised the hand of Santos. The Balneário Camboriú native was declared the winner via unanimous decision.
This is the third time Santos won a professional MMA bout via unanimous decision. Winning at “UFC on ESPN 3” improved her professional MMA record to 16 wins and 1 loss.
On the other hand, it was McCann-Pearson’s second loss in the UFC. She now has 10 wins and 3 losses.
“UFC on ESPN 13” is the second UFC event to take place on the UFC Fight Island. Twelve countries were represented namely Brazil, Canada, England, Georgia, Greece, Lithuania, Romania, Sweden, Tunisia, the UAE, the U.S. and Wales.
Santos was one of the two fighters who represented Brazil. McCann-Pearson was one of the three representatives of England.
In the co-main event, Tim Elliott, 33, of Lee’s Summit, Missouri, USA defeated Ryan “Baby Face” Benoit, 30, of Dallas, Texas, USA via unanimous decision. They fought in the flyweight division.
In the main event, Calvin Kattar, 32, of Methuen, Massachusetts, USA fought Dan “Dynamite” Ige, 28, of Honolulu, Hawaii, USA in the featherweight division. The former won via unanimous decision.
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