Ireland’s Shauna Bannon, an Invicta FC alum, made her promotional debut at UFC London, skipping the Contender Series and finding herself paired up with Bruna Brasil.
Brasil had dropped her own octagon debut to Denise Gomes, a loss that had aged fairly well given Gomes’ recent success. Bannon, meanwhile, had none other than Conor McGregor supporting her ahead of the fight.
Bannon started the fight with a hard outside leg kick, while Brasil fired back with some kicks of her own. Neither was finding the range with their hands so both continued to throw kicks. Brasil finally landed a right hand and her footwork was much better early on. Bannon had a moment where she landed a series of punches against the cage but Brasil circled out. Bannon was throwing a lot of side kicks and throwing volume but nothing significant landed. Brasil was moving a lot making Bannon chase her around wasting a lot of energy. Nothing big happened in the opening round but Bannon was going to have to figure out how to close the distance.
In round two Bannon started again with a lot of those karate side kicks. Bannon eventually pressed Brasil against the cage. It was Brasil that was having a lot of success and landed a few knees to the body. Both ladies tried to trip each other to the mat but the ref eventually separated them. Brasil kept loading up on her right hand but had trouble landing it because it was easily read. With under a minute remaining Brasil shot in for a surprise takedown and she landed it. Brasil ended the round on top but scored no damage.
In the final round, Bannon was aggressive early with kicks and pressure. She was throwing a few spinning kicks but nothing was coming out of them. She did land a ax kick which was her biggest moment of the fight. Mid ways through Brasil wasn’t throwing enough letting Bannon dictate the pace. Bannon wasn’t landing anything damaging but she was busy and scoring points. She did hurt Brasil slightly and then initiated the clinch. Brasil quickly reversed and she was in control against the cage. With thirty seconds left, Brasil got the outside trip and got the takedown. Brasil ended the fight on top to end the fight.
Official Result: Bruna Brasil def. Shauna Bannon by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
