With Nicco Montano dropping out of her fight against Karol Rosa at UFC Vegas 18 on Saturday, it was Joselyne Edwards stepping up to fight for the second time in two months. Panama’s Edwards had debuted on Fight Island in January, giving China’s Yanan Wu more than she could handle.
Against Rosa, Edwards was paired up with a bantamweight yet to lose in the UFC.
Rosa immediately changed levels for a takedown as the pair engaged for the first time. The Brazilian appeared to want no part of Edward’s striking. Edwards found herself on her back along the fence, and Rosa quickly moved into half-guard. Edwards appeared unable to defend, her only course of action to throw punches and elbows off her back. Edwards found herself mounted, but then incredibly pulled herself out using her legs, and went after Rosa on the feet. The pair both landed some heavy punches, with Rosa landing a throw right at round’s end.
Edwards opened with a leg kick in round two, the pair trading punches right after it. Rosa then landed some heavy kicks that wobbled Edwards, whose leg was really feeling it. Rosa went right after her opponent, landing a left and right on either side of Edwards’ head. After taking damage, Edwards returned fire, putting Rosa on her hind leg. But Rosa returned again, and was doing more damage with her strikes. Edwards again battled back, tagging Rosa several times. Rosa wisely switched modes and landed a takedown, getting herself out of harm’s way and into a dominant position on top. Rosa was gushing blood from that previous assault by Edwards, which threatened to change the complexion of the fight — for starters, the pair were becoming more and more slick. For another, Rosa was bleeding from the mouth, her face swelling.
"Somebody's going down this round." 😳
Action is HEATING up over on #ESPNPlus. #UFCVegas18 pic.twitter.com/uxvhCgIA3i
— UFC (@ufc) February 7, 2021
The third and final frame had Edwards likely needing a stoppage. Rosa no doubt knew that, and immediately took her opponent down. Edwards utilized a high guard, forcing Rosa to back off and return to the feet. Edwards couldn’t create any space there, however, and Rosa would take her down again toward the end of the frame. While she put up a fight and had Rosa hurt at times, the obvious deficiency in her ground game left Edwards exposed, and allowed Rosa to leave with her hand raised.
Official Result: Karol Rosa def. Joselyne Edwards by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
