UFC strawweights kicked the night off at UFC Vegas 108 when Piera Rodriguez and Ketlen Souza clashed in the octagon on Saturday.
Rodriguez (10-2) has had a mixed bag of results since entering the UFC in 2022. After putting together two victories in a row she’s gone 1-2 since with losses to Gillian Robertson and Ariane Carnelossi. She came in off a victory last December over Josefine Knutsson.
Souza (15-5) is 2-2 in her UFC run so far, but with considerably higher caliber opponents than Rodriguez. Victories over Marnic Mann and Yazmin Jauregui were solid wins, but losses to Karine Silva and Angela Hill are nothing to scoff at.
Rodriguez came out firing with hands meeting Souza’s style in the middle of the octagon. Souza relied on dipping her head and going into the fire hoping to land shots to the body and hooks up top. Rodriguez was fine with it going to the Thai clinch and landing knees to the body.
The rest of the fight was all Rodriguez controlling the pace of the fight with Souza not able to stop takedowns. Even though Rodriguez didn’t rely on her wrestling as much as she usually does Souza still couldn’t do anything about it.
Rodriguez should have been able to win the fight unanimously, but judges are going to do judge things, and she grabbed the win with a split-decision.
Officia Result: Piera Rodriguez def. Ketlen Souza via Split Decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29)
