Indian strawweight Puja Tomar kicked off the UFC Louisville card on Saturday in her promotional debut, taking on Brazil’s Rayanne Amanda dos Santos.
Tomar, a veteran of ONE Championship (where she competed in both MMA and Muay Thai), had struggled in steps up in competition under the ONE banner, falling to Stamp Fairtex and Jihin “Shadowcat” Radzuan, among others. Tomar had won her last four fights, however, while Rayanne Amanda was looking to bounce back from a loss in her own UFC debut.
When the fight started both ladies started swinging early getting after it. Tomar was going a good job of throwing kicks to the body from range. Dos Santos landed a right over the top at one point. Tomar landed a couple of those body kicks that seemed to hurt Amanda but she hid the pain well. Amanda was throwing kicks as well but wasn’t landing at the rate Tomar was. Tomar was the better striker in round one with the kicks to the body alone. It forced Santos to closes the distance and try to get dirty with punches in bunches on the inside. She landed a good combination and was the fresher fighter to close the opening round.
In round two Tomar opened up with another sidekick to the body. Dos Santos was forced to pressure in because Tomar was too active with those effective kicks. Not just to the body but Tomar was attacking the legs as well. Dos Santos was using a lot of feints but they weren’t doing her any good when Tomar was setting the pace. When Dos Santos closed the distance she had success with her hands plus some body kicks of her own. Dos Santos finally attempted a takedown but seemed to just give up on it. In the final minute of the round Dos Santos was the one coming forward swinging and winning those short in-tight exchanges.
In the final round it was a tight fight leading into the final round. Again, Tomar kept active with those sidekicks to the body. She was failing to do anything outside of that. They were landing but it wasn’t anything impactful later in the fight. Rayane Amanda dos Santos at one point was able to close the distance and put Tomar against the cage. Nothing came out of it and Tomar put Santos off balance with another sidekick to the midsection. Santos got some momentum landing some big shots against the cage. Tomar obliged screaming at Dos Santos and swinging back. It the final seconds Dos Santos was landing some wide hooks to end the fight, but it wasn’t enough, and Puja Tomar took the split decision win.
Official Result: Puja Tomar def. Rayanne dos Santos by split decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
