Women’s strawweight Ravena Oliveira came in a half-pound heavy at the scales ahead of UFC London, where she faced England’s own Shanelle Dyer in the card-opener at the O2 Arena on Saturday.
Dyer, a former PFL fighter, was making her promotional debut after a Contender Series loss, where she was still awarded a contract regardless. Coming off her first career loss, Dyer hoped for an impressive showing in her home country.
Round 1 – Oliveira came out aggressive, rushing in with big strikes and sprinting into takedown attempts. Dyer stayed calm and shifted out of the way, looking to use her technical striking on the outside. Oliveira threw a bunch of big overhands at range early, but didn’t press the action with combinations. Dyer started to land some nice jabs and leg kicks as she got the timing of Oliveira down. A nice teep to the face landed for Dyer, who was doing very well evading all of Oliveira’s spamming overhands. A clinch situation led to Dyer landing some nice knees and elbows before Oliveira broke away.
Round 2 – Oliveira came out aggressive again, being punished by a big leg kick before resetting and blitzing again. The next blitz saw a big 4 punch combination, where she backed Dyer against the cage in a bad spot. Dyer worked out, getting back to range and landing a massive right hand that rocked Oliveira. She followed with a head kick, then grabbed Oliveira in the clinch and landed some devastating knees. After tossing Oliveira to the mat, Dyer followed up with some big ground and pound, forcing the ref to pull her off the wounded Oliveira as the crowd erupted.
Dyer secures a big win in her UFC debut while showing why the UFC signed her after a loss on Dana White’s Contender Series.
Official Result: Shanelle Dyer def. Ravena Oliveira by TKO (knees and punches), Round 2, 1:17
