Las Vegas, NV — Securing the first win of her UFC tenure at Saturday’s UFC Vegas 75 was Czech flyweight Tereza Bleda.
Having dropped her promotional debut one fight prior, the 21-year old relied on a wrestling-heavy gameplan, dominating Gabriella Fernandes on the mat, who appeared to have no answer off her back.
While Fernandes fought her way back into the fight briefly in the third, Bleda (7-1) had by then comfortably secured a decision win. She needed only to survive — with a final takedown seeing her back in control by the end of the round regardless.
Speaking to media outlets including Cageside Press following the bout, Bleda said the fight went pretty much how she envisioned it — for the first 10 minutes at least.
“The first and second round, yes, the third was a little bit more punches than I expected,” admitted Bleda, who in her head was thinking “okay, I will stand here for a little bit more, take more punches and make her think it’ll soon [bring about an end to] the fight, and then shoot for the takedown — it’s my best chance.”
“It was worse, the third round, but at least I was in mount in the end,” added Bleda, “and almost ended it. It’s okay.”
Bleda was definitely hunting the finish throughout, but Fernandes proved too durable on that front. “On the ground, she was tougher than I expected, and it was really hard to end it. And I didn’t want to lose position.”
“Ronda” believes that her performance at UFC Vegas 75 was superior to what she showed on Dana White’s Contender Series last year. “Contender was more controlling, and to be sure of the win, and this one I also tried to control it, but I also really tried to end it. But she was tough and it was hard, so it’s better [than the] Contender [Series].”
While many young fighters look to stay active, Tereza Bleda is looking to find a balance between fighting, and improving in the gym.
“Right now I’m focusing on improving. I don’t want to fight every three or four months, I want to fight in like six months to be really prepared for every fight. To learn new things for every fight, and to be better and better every fight. Right now when I recover I’ll get back to training, and I will study a lot of learn new techniques in striking and everything,” she explained. “And in a half year, I will come back stronger and better.”
Watch the full UFC Vegas 75 post-fight press conference appearance by Tereza Bleda above.
