Claudia Gadelha and Randa Markos fought cautiously to preserve their respective spots in the strawweight division, and the results showed.
Gadelha (17-4 MMA, 6-4 UFC) shut out Markos (9-7-1 MMA, 5-6-1 UFC) on the scorecards, earning unanimous 30-27 scores to the boos of the crowd in Las Vegas.
The women’s strawweight bout was part of the preliminary card of Saturday’s UFC 239 event at T-Mobile Arena. It aired on ESPN following additional prelims on UFC Fight Pass/ESPN+ and ahead of the main card on pay-per-view.
Initially, the standout grapplers did not match takedown attempts, instead facing off on their feet, waiting for the other to fire a punch. Gadelha backed up Markos and landed a hard left hook, and the two dirty boxed in the clinch. Neither won a decided advantage, however.
Markos charged into punching range leading the second, firing flurries of punches in close. Gadelha smiled and stayed patient, and again, she scored as Markos’ backpedaled. A knee in the clinch stung Gadelha in close, and she began to regain some ground as the round aged. A last-second takedown from Gadelha was unsuccessful.
Although the first two rounds were close, neither fighter changed much in approach. Gadelha kept a high punch volume and landed at range. Frustrated at the stalemate, she waved in Markos, who did the same obliged with a brief flurry. The audience eventually lost its patience despite more clean punches from Gadelha, and the fight ended in a staring match.
Gadelha gets back to the win column and has now alternated between wins and losses in her past five outings. After a “Performance of the Night” submission win over Angela Hill, Markos drops to 1-2-1 in her past four fights.
Up-to-the-minute UFC 239 results include:
- Claudia Gadelha def. Randa Markos via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Song Yadong def. Alejandro Perez via knockout (punch) – Round 1, 2:04
- Edmen Shahbazyan def. Jack Marshman via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 1:12
- Chance Rencountre def. Ismail Naurdiev via unanimous decision (29-27, 29-28, 30-27)
- Julia Avila def. Pannie Kianzad via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-26)
For complete coverage of UFC 239, check out the UFC results.
