Having found considerable success early in her MMA career, BJJ world champ Bia Mesquita appeared to find herself in something of a showcase fight against Melissa Mullins at UFC Vegas 119 on Saturday.
Mullins, however, refused to make it easy.
Bia Mesquita was no doubt looking to get the fight to the ground, which had Mullins holding her hands low in the early-going of their bantamweight bout. Mesquita fired kicks and looked to close the distance, but didn’t appear ready to let her striking go with any regularity until over a minute in. And it was Mullins connecting more than once in a scrappy exchange that had Mesquita hurt and clinching up in a panic.
When they did go to the ground at the end of that sequence, it was Mullins ending up on top. Still a dangerous place to be against a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, but Mesquita was still shaking out the cobwebs.
Once she did, however, she proved that Mullins had miscalculated on staying on the mat. Mullins attacked with an elbow, and Mesquita was able to grab her opposite arm. She got her legs across the face even as Mullins tried in vain to stand back up, and wrenched on the arm-bar. Before long, Mullins was tapping, and Bia Mesquita had her third submission victory inside the UFC octagon!
Official Result: Bia Mesquita def. Melissa Mullins by submission (arm-bar), Round 1, 3:16
