Antonina Shevchenko and Lucie Pudilova went back and forth at UFC Newark before a second-round submission by Shevchenko.
After starting her MMA career in 2002, Antonina Shevchenko decided to pursue Muay Thai, which is the reason for the gap in her career that lasted from 2005 to 2017. After a pair of wins in 2017, Shevchenko, the sister of flyweight champion Valentina, was given a shot at the Contender Series last year. Winning by TKO with heavy knees, Shevchenko earned a contract with the promotion. She defeated Ji Yeon Kim in her UFC debut, but fell to Roxanne Modafferi in her last fight.
Lucie Pudilova is a tough former bantamweight who went 2-2 in the UFC before moving down flyweight. After getting down to 125 pounds, Pudilova fell to Liz Carmouche. Her last fight at bantamweight was a split decision loss to Irene Aldana that earned a Fight of the Night.
Lucie Pudilova wasted no time getting to the clinch, but that was exactly where Antonina Shevchenko wanted to be. Shevchenko established a Muay Thai plum and landed heavy knees to the body. Shevchenko drove her to the cage and switched to an underhook and continued to batter Pudilova with knees to the body until an accidental groin strike caused the referee to break them up. Pudilova shot hard for a takedown, but Shevchenko defended wonderfully, leading to more knees landing. Pudilova switched to a single leg, then broke free and landed a pair of vicious elbows above the left eye of Shevchenko. Shevchenko was dazed, then Pudilova landed a takedown right into half guard. Antonina responded with an incredibly deep armbar, but Pudilova survived until the end of the round.
Huge elbows from Pudilova rock Shevchenko! #UFCNewark pic.twitter.com/x7DQV8IhpE
— UFC (@ufc) August 3, 2019
Cageside Press scored the first round 10-10
Pudilova immediately shot for a takedown right into the fence. Pudilova lifted her up and slammed Shevchenko to the mat. However, Shevchenko adjusted wonderfully, and took the back of Pudilova after hitting the canvas, then sunk in a rear-naked choke. Pudilova went to sleep, but the stoppage was late, as the referee could not tell Pudilova was unconcious.
JUST Muay Thai?!@AntoninaPantera gets the submission win in round 2! #UFCNewark pic.twitter.com/DVlNwibYbJ
— UFC (@ufc) August 3, 2019
Antonina Shevchenko def. Lucie Pudilova by Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) in Round 2 (1:20)
Check out all the results from UFC Newark here!
