Strawweights Shanelle Dyer and Elise Reed kicked off Saturday’s UFC Sacremento preliminary card.
Dyer got Reed’s attention early with a right hand, and pressed the action, mixing in kicks and more right hands while Reed stayed mobile and countered. Dyer’s head kicks were soon posing a threat as well, with Reed a clear step or two behind on the feet. In the final minute of round one, Dyer had Reed rocked and under fire along the fence! Shanelle pinned Reed to the cage, but couldn’t put her away after they clinched up.
The violence from Dyer picked up again in round two, and really kicked up a notch at the midway mark. Reed had been left bleeding from an ear after the opening around; in the second, Dyer targeted the lead leg and connected with the side of the head. She had Reed hemmed in, landing multiple strikes, then clinched up and fired knees. The fight was becoming very one-sided with Reed’s answers appearing to come in slow motion. As time ticked away the side of Reed’s head was more and more of a bloody mess. She would manage to reverse along the fence and get in a few seconds of offense, but that would last mere seconds.
Dyer’s kicks were flying again early in the third, and Reed was once again under fire. Her corner had questioned her on calling the fight between rounds, but Reed had opted to fight on. Still, she was again a step behind, and had found no way to get the fight to the ground. 90 seconds in, and Dyer began unloading with lefts and rights, leading to a standing TKO with Reed unable to do anything but take damage and try, desperately, to cover up. By that point, the blood around the ear was joined by a cut to the side of the face. Good stoppage by the ref, as Reed was never really in the fight.
Dyer improved to 2-0 with the victory, and said following the fight that “I’m sick of watching UFC jiu-jitsu in title fights. We want knockouts!” No doubt a reference to the recent Dern vs. Robertson title fight, and the fact that Dyer has two knockouts in two trips to the octagon.
Official Result: Shanelle Dyer def. Elise Reed by TKO, Round 3, 1:42
