Pereira opened Saturday’s action with a leg kick, with the pair exchanging shortly after. Cowan held center, but it was Pereira finding success with her hands. Cowan flashed a high kick, then finally closed the distance and clinched up; against the fence, she was unable to get the fight down. Pereira meanwhile fired a superman punch and step-in knee. Big looping punches followed, and Cowan again pursued a takedown, this time briefly dragging Pereira to the ground. Not for long however. Cowan would clinch up again late in the round, before Pereira broke free with 30 seconds left on the clock.

Cowan would score a key, emphatic takedown about 90 seconds into round two, planting Pereira on her back well away from the fence. Cowan positioned her opponent away from the fence, with Pereira trying to push off and create a scramble. Cowan wound up backing off for a moment before wading back into Pereira’s guard. Cowan would spend plenty of time on top before backing off again, much to her chagrin. Moments after returning to the feet, Cowan ate a blistering knee that knocked her out cold!

Certainly a stylish way for the UFC’s current youngest female fighter to claim her first victory in the promotion.

Official Result: Alice Pereira def. Hailey Cowan by KO (knee), Round 2, 4:24

The post UFC Vegas 115: Alice Pereira Knees Ends Hailey Cowan’s Night appeared first on Cageside Press.

“I actually tore my meniscus again in my [last] fight with in the first round – this is my fourth meniscus surgery,” she explained. “I just went to pass guard and I felt the click and then my leg got stuck. That’s why round two, I didn’t look like round one because I couldn’t move. So I went and got that fixed. I tried to see if I could do it without surgery, but where the tear was, there’s no blood flow in that area. So I had to have surgery to get it removed.”

Not only was the time away necessary for her recovery, but she made some changes to her camp as well. After training near home in Texas for most of her life, she made the move out the fight capital of the world to improve her training. While she was originally hesitant about the move, she found a home with Eric Nicksick and gang.

“I moved out to Vegas. I’ve been training out in Vegas for about nine months. I feel like I’m at home,” Cowan said. “I obviously miss home a lot, but I’ve definitely found a second home at Xtreme [Couture] and at the [UFC] P.I. And I’m surrounded by people that I love, people that I trust. It’s been a good not a year that I didn’t want to take a year off, but it ended up being a very good thing because I was able to kind of grow with my new coaches and grow with my team.”

Not only has her training leveled up, but she’s now mentally in a better space as well. The sport, particularly with all of the injuries, had become more of a job and less of the thing she loved. Now it has returned to where she was at her best.

“It’s I almost lost my sense of reverence for the sport, because I was just like going from rushing from one injury to the next – almost that I was I was just waiting to get hurt again, like I lost my my like love for training. It was almost became a chore,” she said. “But I was able to change my mindset and kind of find my my love for the sport again. And so I’m having fun in training. I love all my training partners. I love being on the mats with the greatest fighters on the planet.”

You can see the fruits of this year outside of the cage when she takes on Alice Pereira at UFC Vegas 115. That fight takes place on the prelim portion of the card, which begins at 5pm EST on Paramount+.

The post UFC Vegas 115’s Hailey Cowan Talks Growth During Time Away appeared first on Cageside Press.

Kicking off this UFC Vegas 115 edition of TTP is our interview with UFC strawweight, Tabatha Ricci. Ricci discusses the complicated picture in the strawweight division that includes a champion leaving, a new champ being crowns, and the possibility of the return of the previous champ. Plus, she talks about where that puts her in the division as she enters a de facto number one contenders fight on Saturday. She’ll throw down with former title challenger Virna Jandiroba in the co-main event of UFC Vegas 115 this weekend and is giving us the breakdown of the whole fight.

Fights, Dogs and Parlays: UFC Vegas 115 (10:29)

The UFC heads home to the Apex for another fight night event. UFC Vegas 115 is headlined by lightweights Renato Moicano and Chris Duncan as they try to stake their claim for a run up the division. Plus, in the co-main event, the aforementioned Tabatha “Baby Shark” Ricci meets Virna Jandiroba in a 115lbs clash with immediate, meaningful implications. We’ll break down those fights as well as some of our other favorite fights on the main card. Plus, as always, we’re hitting you with an underdog and a plus-money parlay that we think will make your wallet fat this weekend. For this segment, all odds via FanDuel Sportsbook.

Hailey Cowan Interview (17:22)

Closing out this UFC Vegas 115 edition of TTP is our interview with UFC bantamweight, Hailey Cowan. Cowan discusses her time outside of the cage and the injury that led to it. Despite it being hard not having a fight on the docket, she made the best of her time. She talks about the camp change, some of her training partners and a whole lot more from this last year. Plus, she breaks down her fight at UFC Vegas 115 with Alice Pereira and we make some jokes about the age difference.

The post TTP Ep. 525: Tabatha Ricci, Hailey Cowan, and UFC Vegas 115 appeared first on Cageside Press.

Cornolle (8-2) has had a decent start to her UFC career coming in at 2-1 with her sole loss against Jaqueline Cavalcanti last September. Victories over Jacqueline Cavalcanti and Melissa Mullins gave her a great start to her UFC run, but missing weight for this one against Cowan is not a good look.

Cowan (7-3) is a DWCS alumn, and after losing out on two different opponents, made her UFC debut against Jamey-Lyn Horth last April. Unfortunately for her she lost the bout by decision and now looks to get her first win against Cornolle in Miami.

Round 1 Cornolle came out looking good on the feet landing a couple shots before Cowan grabbed her and put her on the fence. The two did the fence dance for a bit before Cornolle pulled Cowan down on top of her and almost scored an arm bar. Cowan was able to get loose and took top position.

Cornolle tried to get to a side and post up to get to her feet, but Cowan was able to flatten her out repeatedly. Cowan seemed to be hunting a head and arm choke, but couldn’t do it. After Cornolle forced a scramble Cowan took the back, but ran out of time to do anything with it.

Round 2 Cowan came out and threw a head kick which Cornolle definitely didn’t like and she came after her with a flurry. Cowan was able to score a takedown, but gave her back up in a scramble and Cornolle took it.

It proved to be the end for Cowan as Cornolle sunk in the rear-naked choke and ended her night early.

Official Result: Nora Cornolle def. Hailey Cowan via R2 SUB (RNC), 1:52

The post Nora Cornolle Takes The Scrambles, Submits Cowan With RNC appeared first on Cageside Press.

Cageside Press confirmed news of the booking on Sunday, following an initial report of Cowan (7-3) facing Cornolle (8-2) by MMA Junkie earlier in the day.

The fight will mark Cowan’s first since April of 2023, when the Contender Series winner and LFA/Invicta FC alum dropped her promotional debut to Canada’s Jamey-Lyn Horth.

In the nearly two years that have followed, Cowan has seen a pair of fights fall through, against Zarah Fairn and Tamires Vidal. Injuries sustained by Cowan, including a broken shin, scuttled both, and left her with a lengthy recovery. Cowan had actually continued training with the injury, unaware her fibula had snapped.

“A couple weeks ago I rolled my ankle wrestling. I continued training for the fight, thinking I had a bad ankle sprain— if you know me, you know I am stubborn and ignore pain relatively easily, so I didn’t complain much and begged to continue, they allowed me to until they couldn’t,” Cowan wrote on social media at the time. “I continued training for the fight for 2 weeks with physical therapy every day. Wednesday after physical therapy, I very reluctantly went in for an X-ray— I assumed the X-ray would clear me to fight because I was in minimal pain and was functioning on it incredibly well, but it turns out my fibula is displaced and broken. The “dislocation” that I felt was my bone snapping.”

France’s Nora Cornolle is 2-1 in the UFC, and will enter the fight looking to rebound from a loss to the surging Jacqueline Cavalcanti. Prior to that, she’d notched wins over Melissa Mullins and Joselyne Edwards in her first two trips to the UFC octagon.

UFC 315 takes place on May 10, 2025 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The only other fight reported for the event thus far sees Canada’s Brad Katona take on Bekzat Almakhan.

The post Hailey Cowan Return Against Nora Cornolle Targeted for UFC 315 appeared first on Cageside Press.

At least, it would have been a bantamweight fight — but with Cowan missing weight, the bout was instead contested at a 137.5lb catchweight.

In the opening round, it was Horth that landed the first big shot, that being a kick to the body. Cowan was throwing kicks as well but nothing landed. Horth landed another really good body kick. A third heavy body kick landed from Horth, who was finding her range with them often. Cowan did land some nice elbows in the clinch getting some respect. In the final minute, Horth landed a head kick that was blocked but still made an impact. It made Cowan shoot in and clinch up with Horth. The head kick caused a cut over the left eye of Cowan.

In the second round, Cowan took center cage and they clinched up. Cowan was definitely wanting to put Horth against the cage where she was stronger. Lacking the technique Horth was able to get away. Horth landed a body kick but that time Cowan caught the leg and got the takedown. Horth did a very nice job of putting her feet on the hips and elevating Cowan to scramble back up. Cowan threw a switch kick and flying knee but it was easy to see she was fatigued. Cowan was much more active in the round however. She landed a nice shovel right hand that got the attention of Horth. The round ended with Cowan throwing Horth to the mat after catching another body kick.

The final round was a must-win situation for both ladies in a close contest. A series of kicks from both women were exchanged before Cowan shot in for a takedown. She didn’t get the takedown but had control time on the cage. Cowan did trip Horth down but Horth immediately scrambled and got to her feet. In the final two minutes Horth was the one landing cleaner with the kicks and trailing punches. Cowan wasn’t getting anything off on the feet but did end the fight getting a takedown.

A close fight, but Horth got the nod on all three scorecards.

Jamey-Lyn Horth takes the win via unanimous decision in her UFC debut 💪#UFCVegas72 pic.twitter.com/ObxwbouKq6

— UFC (@ufc) April 29, 2023

Official Result: Jamey-Lyn Horth def. Hailey Cowan by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

The post UFC Vegas 72: Jamey-Lyn Horth Victorious In Debut Against Hailey Cowan appeared first on Cageside Press.

Jamey-Lyn Horth
Standing at five-foot-seven
Fighting at 125 lbs (flyweight)
33-years-old
Fighting out of Squamish, British Columbia, Canada
Training out of The Sound Martial Arts
A pro record of 5-0
3 KO/TKOs, 2 Submissions

How will Horth fare in the UFC:

I like this signing from the UFC. Horth is just 5-0 but has solid wins over Corinne Laframboise, Jade Masson-Wong, and Mayra Cantuaria. As an amateur, she beat UFC’s Lupita Godinez twice. Horth holds titles over in Canada for BFL as a pro and amateur. In her last fight, she won the LFA flyweight title. She’s been fighting as a pro since 2018 and only has five fights because nobody wanted to fight her. She has more canceled fights than actual fights.

I wish more of her fights were available to watch back as only two are online. Horth fights long on the feet throwing a lot of straight punches and kicks. She does a fine job at moving around on the outside sticking with the jab and dictating the pace with a lot of kicks. I don’t like the way she holds her chin high but usually, her footwork is good enough to avoid a lot of damage. Somebody that’s super aggressive will be able to touch her up a bit. Rushing in on Horth is dangerous because she does have power in her hands. She’s good at all areas on the feet. Good jab, good use of the kickboxing, strong clinch work, and is excellent in range.

Horth is more of a striker/thai boxer but she doesn’t mind taking your back and snatching the neck. Her takedown defense is a little suspect but her grappling seems good enough to survive. She’s been able to get out of bad positions and make them into her own, having the better positions and scoring the offense. I do have high hopes for Horth. I believe she has top-15 potential at the very least.

How she matches up with Hailey Cowan:

Cowan can get away with a lot of her flaws due to her athleticism. She is still very raw even with nine fights. Meanwhile Horth, who only has five pro fights, is way more put together than Cowan. I see this fight playing out on the feet. Cowan has been going tooth and nail with low-level girls whereas Horth is dominating good opponents. Cowan lacks defensively moving her head so Horth should have a lot of success with her hands. The pick is comfortably Horth.

The post Welcome to the UFC: Jamey-Lyn Horth appeared first on Cageside Press.

Cowan (7-2), an LFA and Invicta FC veteran who won her way into the UFC on Dana White’s Contender Series last year, has seen her bout with Tamires Vidal (7-1) scratched from this Saturday’s UFC San Antonio card.

Vidal was forced out of the bout due to undisclosed medical reasons, per a statement by the promotion on Thursday.

“Due to a medical issue, Tamires Vidal has been removed from her bantamweight bout with Hailey Cowan. As a result, this bout has been cancelled from this weekend’s card,” the statement read.

With the fight being a late addition to the event, and weigh-ins coming tomorrow, no replacement has been sought.

It’s the second straight booking that has fallen through for Cowan. A match-up with Ailin Perez last month was cancelled when Cowan fell ill. With luck, the third time will be the charm — whenever that might be.

In the meantime, UFC San Antonio, which takes place Saturday, March 25, 2023 at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas, moves forward with the following match-ups:

• Marlon Vera vs. Cory Sandhagen
• Holly Holm vs. Yana Santos
• Nate Landwehr vs. Austin Lingo
• Andrea Lee vs. Maycee Barber
• Chidi Njokuani vs. Albert Duraev
• Alex Perez vs. Manel Kape
• Daniel Pineda vs. Tucker Lutz
• Steven Peterson vs. Lucas Alexander
• Trevin Giles vs. Preston Parsons
• C.J. Vergara vs. Daniel da Silva
• Manuel Torres vs. Trey Ogden
• Victor Altamirano vs. Vinicius Salvador

The post Hailey Cowan vs. Tamires Vidal Drops Off UFC San Antonio appeared first on Cageside Press.

During the weigh-in window, promotion officials announced that Hailey Cowan had fallen ill, and would not be weighing in as a result. Her opponent, Ailin Perez, had successfully made weight earlier in the morning.

The nature of Cowan’s illness was not disclosed. The 31-year old bantamweight, a veteran of Invicta FC and LFA, was to have made her promotional debut in the fight.

Hailey Cowan won her way into the UFC on Dana White’s Contender Series last year.

Perez, a native of Argentina, came up short in her own octagon debut last September, which came against Stephanie Egger. “Fiona” lost the bout after being caught in a rear-naked choke in the second round.

UFC Vegas 70 goes down this Saturday, February 25, 2023 at the Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. Light heavyweights Nikita Krylov and Ryan Spann headline the Fight Night card, which now moves forward with the following match-ups:

• Nikita Krylov vs. Ryan Spann
• André Muniz vs. Brendan Allen
• Augusto Sakai vs. Don’Tale Mayes
• Tatiana Suarez vs. Montana De La Rosa
• Mike Malott vs. Yohan Lainesse
• Jasmine Jasudavicius vs. Gabriella Fernandes
• Jordan Leavitt vs. Victor Martinez
• Joe Solecki vs. Carl Deaton III
• Ode’ Osbourne vs. Charles Johnson
• Rafael Alves vs. Nurollo Aliev
• Erick Gonzalez vs. Trevor Peek

The post Illness Forces Hailey Cowan Off UFC Vegas 70, Fight with Ailin Perez Scrapped appeared first on Cageside Press.

The Cage Warriors champ in question would be bantamweight champion Jack Cartwright, taking on the aforementioned LFA/Fury FC alum Jose Johnson. Johnson last appeared on the Contender Series in 2020, losing a decision against Ronnie Lawrence. Lawrence is now in the UFC, while Johnson is hoping to finally break in after an appearance on Dana White’s Lookin’ for a Fight also went south.

As for Cartwright, many felt he could have gone straight to the UFC proper, but instead he’ll battle it out Tuesday.

So too will Hailey Cowan, another talent that arguably could have gone direct to the UFC. She’s been paired up with Brazil’s Claudia Leite.

Dana White’s Contender Series 50 gets underway at 8PM ET, airing on ESPN+ in the U.S., and UFC Fight Pass internationally. Full results from the event at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada can be found below.

In the opening fight of the evening, Nazim Sadykhov got the fight down early, then opened up Ahmad Suhail Hassanzada with some nasty ground n’ pound. Sadykhov was dominant on top, and Hassanzada couldn’t seem to get out from under him. Things were looking back when Sadykhov passed to mount, but Hassanzada was able to reverse, with just over a minute left in the opening round.

In the second, it was Hassanzada getting the fight down early, albeit after eating at least one solid punch. Sadykhov didn’t stay down long, and late in the round would drop Hassanzada with a body shot. In the third. Sadykhov landed a spinning back kick up top and stayed on the offensive early. Both men began swinging, but it was Sadykhov dropping Hassazada with a right hand for the KO midway through the third!

The second fight of the evening saw another fighter cut opened, as Hailey Cowan landed an elbow early against Claudia Leite while they were grappling along the fence. The cut was bad enough that the ref brought in the doctor, but the action was allowed to continue. In the second, Leite pursued a takedown. Cowan answered with a knee, but Leite stayed on it and landed the attempt. Cowan soon pushed Leite off her, but didn’t get back up; Leite got back on her and took the back, hunting a rear-naked choke. Cowan would try to shake Leite off; Leite transitioned to top, took mount, and came close to a finish with an arm-triangle choke. But they’d head to the third with the fight likely tied, and that third round was close.

Johnson landed a takdown in the opening 30 seconds, but Cartwright reversed just as quickly. Cartwright locked up an anaconda, but Johnson fought it off for some time and eventually escaped out and up, only to be taken back down. Late in the round, Johnson would get on top and make it to count, but Cartwright survived. An active second round led to an early triangle attempt from Johnson in the third. Cartwright would get on top after that, but the transitions would continue, with Johnson briefly getting to mount only to willingly go to his back for another triangle attempt. They’d go the distance, with Johnson serving up the first loss of Cartwright’s career.

Claudio Ribeiro wasted no time at all in finishing Ivan Valenzuela in the penultimate fight of the evening. Ribeiro landed a left hook off a poorly conceived spinning back fist from Valenzuela, scoring the KO finish.

Esteban Ribovics didn’t take much longer, knocking out Thomas Paull in the night’s final fight in just 90 seconds.

Dana White’s Contender Series Season 6, Week 4 Results

Lightweight: Esteban Ribovics def. Thomas Paull by knockout, Round 1, 1:30
Middleweight: Claudio Ribeiro def. Iván Valenzuela by knockout, Round 1, 0:25
Bantamweight: Jose Johnson def. Jack Cartwright by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Women’s Bantamweight: Hailey Cowan def. Cláudia Leite by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Lightweight: Nazim Sadykhov def. Ahmad Suhail Hassanzada by knockout, Round 3, 1:59

Contract Winners: Nazim Sadykhov, Hailey Cowan, Jose Johnson, Claudio Ribeiro, Esteban Ribovics

The post Dana White’s Contender Series Season 6, Week 4 Results appeared first on Cageside Press.