Stepping up on short notice to face Brazil’s Josiane Nunes at UFC Vegas 49 on Saturday was newcomer Ramona Pascual.
Representing Hong Kong in what had become a women’s featherweight fight, Pascual was a former Invicta FC fighter making her promotional debut— just over a month removed for seeing her hand raised in the Invicta cage.
Pascual was also making a bit of history as the first female fighter to represent Hong Kong in the UFC. But in the end, she received a rude welcome to the octagon care of Nunes.
Nunes, normally a bantamweight, and Pascual didn’t shy away from trading in the middle with big power shots to open the fight. Kicks and punches were thrown from both ladies, who were swinging hard. Nunes was more of the aggressor rushing forward with kicks and hooks. She did sit Pascual down with a left cross briefly. Pascual jumped back up and landed a few solid knees. Pascual was the much bigger girl, with Nunes closing the distance with looping punches. She was overzealous and walked right into a takedown from Pascual.
More forward pressure from Nunes in round two finding her shots. She never let Pascual off the hook putting the pressure on her. A few good left hands landed in a row and one dropped Pascual. Pascual was in danger, quite badly, even shooting for a takedown and getting mounted. She did escape though and get back to her feet, escaping what felt like a near finish. Nunes was doing well picking her shots but Pascual drove through with a double leg takedown. Pascual held the position for the remainder of the round but did nothing on top.
In the final round, Nunes did a good job seeing the shots of Pascual and shrugging her off. Nunes never stopped throwing her big left hook landing and backing up Pascual. Pascual continued trying to get the fight down but good movement didn’t allow that. Every time Pascual was shooting in Nunes made her pay with a flurry of strikes. In the final ten seconds Pascual got the takedown and ended the fight on top.
ANOTHER dominant performance by @JosianeNunesUFC 👏 #UFCVegas49 pic.twitter.com/6b6pFuJMil
— UFC (@ufc) February 26, 2022
No question as to the winner in this one: a dominant performance by Josiane Nunes, against a much larger opponent.
Official Result: Josiane Nunes def. Ramona Pascual by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
