Promotional newcomer Irina Alekseeva turned heads at Friday’s UFC Vegas 72 weigh-in for all the wrong reasons.
After missing weight for her bantamweight fight with Stephanie Egger, the Russian nevertheless celebrated on the scale. The fight, thankfully, moved forward and was contested Saturday at a 140lb catchweight, with Alekseeva fined a percentage of her purse.
Egger, for her part, entered the bout off a September win over Ailin Perez.
Right off the bat, Alekseeva pressed Egger against the cage, immediately throwing some punches. Alekseeva was throwing a lot of volume making it a dogfight. It was working too as Egger was covering up. Egger did tie up with her and managed to take the back but Alekseeva rolled for a leg. She had a good position and cranked on a knee bar! Egger tried to defend, looking to move positioned but was stuck and soon enough was forced to tap!
Alekseeva celebrated by jumping up on the octagon, elated with her debut win. The victory improves the Russian’s record to 5-1 overall. It also made her the third consecutive newcomer on the UFC Vegas 72 card to pick up a win in their debut, alongside Jamey-Lyn Horth and Marcus McGhee. “Russian Ronda” will just need to figure out the weight question moving forward.
Official Results: Irina Alekseeva def. Stephanie Egger by Submission (kneebar), Round 1, 2:11
