The Violence Queen survived a third round knockdown to cruise to a unanimous decision win at KSW 42 on Saturday.
Ariane Lipski was the belle of the ball at KSW 42. Literally marketed as something as a fighting princess, the ‘Violence Queen’ had all eyes on her as she defended her crown against Silvana Gomez Juarez. She was happy to deliver, and after a tentative feeling out process in the opening moments, Lipski began to press the action, and went upstairs with her kicks. It was Lipski who threw the first combo, and generally forced her opponent to play the counter game. In the clinch, the champion hit home with some hard knees, and the opening minutes were clearly in her favor. A second clinch with more big knees led to about thirty seconds of brawling, with Lipski getting the better of Juarez and briefly dropping her. Yet the very next time Lipski fell back on the Thai clinch, she found herself taken down after Juarez caught her leg on a knee attempt.
As the fight moved to round two, Lipski continued to press the action. Juarez proved game, answering with a spinning back fist. The action in round two began to build with Lipski walking down her opponent and unleashing a flurry of punches and knees that had her on her heels. The champion then began to mix in leg kicks, and heading into the third was well ahead. Then, in round three, a moment of utter shock: Lipski was caught and dropped. She went down, hard, and Juarez followed her to the ground looking for the finish. The champion survived and regained her feet, but the question was whether she was still feeling the effects of the blow. She appeared to recover well, however, going back on the offensive moments later.
The fight would head to the championship rounds, with Lipski clearly ahead, but the third round represented a question mark. Lipski, however, appeared to have fully recovered from her earlier scare. She also looked to be the fresher fighter. Yet round four was the least eventful of the fight, with Lipski likely taking it mainly via being the aggressor. A similar scenario would play out in the fifth and final round. It mattered not. Lipski, with a nasty split lip but few other signs of damage, cruised to a unanimous decision.
Ariane Lipski def. Silvana Gomez Juarez by unanimous decision – to retain the KSW women’s flyweight championship
