Paris – UFC bantamweights came to play at UFC Paris as Nora Cornolle welcomed Jacqueline Cavalcanti to France on Saturday.
Cornolle (8-1) fought in Paris for the second time in her UFC run. She came into the fight on a two-fight win streak with victories over Joselyne Edwards and Melissa Mullins. The French bantamweight faced Cavalcanti for first time since she lost to her in her professional MMA debut in 2021.
Cavalcanti (7-1) looked to make it 2-0 against Cornolle coming into UFC Paris. Holding a two-fight win streak of her own with victories against Zarah Fairn and Josiane Nunes she hoped to stay undefeated in the UFC.
Round 1 for as hyped up as Cornolle was in the octagon she was very measured to begin the fight. Both fighters traded leg kicks for the first couple of minutes. Cavalcanti tried to time right hands as counters to the leg kicks coming her way, but Cornolle didn’t allow her to land many.
Cornolle rushed Cavalcanti with the body lock pushing her onto the fence and looking for trips to get her down. Cornolle was finally able to get her down landing in side control and she stepped over into full mount rather quickly. Cavalcanti was able to reverse the position and get back to her feet.
A few more exchanges and the round ended.
Round 2 Cavalcanti takes the center once again. She was more aggressive since she knew what Cornolle was going to bring. Cavalcanti landed a nasty shot that put Cornolle on skates and hurt. She tried to finish her, but Cornolle was able to recover quickly and got in on a takedown attempt.
Cavalcanti with a blatant fence grab stopped the takedown, and she was able to reverse the position putting Cornolle on the fence. Cavalcanti was able to get away from the clinch and back to throwing strikes.
The round ended with Cornolle landing knees and elbows in the clinch.
Round 3 Cavalcanti took the center again and she tried to land the right hand that brought her success in the fight to this point. Cornolle landed a big right of her own, but she really wanted to get back in the clinch. Cornolle forced the clinch for a moment, but wasn’t able to do much damage in it.
Cavalcanti was able to land heavy shots on Cornolle rocking her momentarily, but again not able to do much with it. Cornolle seemed to accept that this was going to get ugly and fired back big shots too.
The fight ended with flurries fired from both as they looked to find a last-second finish.
Official Result: Jacqueline Cavalcanti def. Nora Cornolle via Split Decision (29-28×2, 28-29)
