Kicking off the UFC Vegas 59 preliminary card on Saturday was a women’s bantamweight bout featuring Mayra Bueno Silva and Stephanie Egger.
Both fighters entered the night off of recent wins— Silva had picked up a unanimous decision victory over Wu Yanan back in April, while Egger had won two straight, most recently against Jessica-Rose Clark.
In both cases, those wins had picked up post-fight bonuses, boosting expectations for Saturday’s showdown.
We did get a finish in Silva vs. Egger on Saturday — under controversial circumstances.
Silva got the action to the ground about 30 seconds in, but it was Egger reversing and getting on top. Silva then locked up an arm-bar — and then verbally told the referee that Egger had tapped. Egger stood in disbelief, apparently contesting the stoppage. The ref then signalled for a video replay, which was inconclusive. He then surveyed the judges cageside — one of whom declared that Egger had indeed tapped to the submission.
An interesting finish to the first fight of the night – we are off to video review! #UFCVegas59 pic.twitter.com/f1TZqjxLqI
— UFC (@ufc) August 7, 2022
A strange ending, with the ref later complimenting Silva for her good sportsmanship in releasing the hold, while Egger continued to suggest that she had not in fact tapped out.
“I worked hard for this moment, for this fight. She tapped,” an emotional Silva said following the fight.
Official Result: Mayra Bueno Silva def. Stephanie Egger by submission (arm-bar), Round 1, 1:17
