Women’s bantamweight action at UFC Houston saw Panama’s Joselyne Edwards take on Nora Cornolle of France on Saturday.
In a division thin on talent, Edwards (who at one point competed at featherweight, and had struggled at the scale earlier in her 135lb run) had managed to put together three straight wins. Cornolle entered off a loss to Karol Rosa for her part.
Edwards took the fight to the fence about 90s seconds into Saturday’s preliminary card bout, with the pair reversing positions then reversing again. They’d come off the fence, flirt with a takedown, only to get right back to the cage. Cornolle looked for a trip, didn’t have it, and Edwards reversed. Minimal action, a lot of positional battles through the first five minutes.
Round two opened with a well-timed Edwards takedown. Not much came of it. The next one was another story.
Edwards managed to hoist Cornolle up, and slam her down, a sort of “sidewalk slam” rather than Rampage-style. It turned out to be just as effective. Cornolle’s shoulder and head hit the canvass, and she looked out of it. Edwards piled on with hammer fists, as the ref watched on. Easily could have been a stoppage, but the ref didn’t call it and Cornolle appeared to come around.
That forced Edwards to switch to a rear-naked choke, and Cornolle soon tapped! The French fighter was clearly hurt, slow to get up and then doubled over in pain on her stool, clutching what may have been a dislocated or broken shoulder.
Official Result: Joselyne Edwards def. Nora Cornolle by submission (rear-naked choke), Round 2, 2:44
