Lauren Murphy’s tear through the flyweight division continues after defeating Joanne Calderwood.
Murphy (15-4 MMA, 7-4 UFC) won a tough fight against Calderwood (15-6 MMA, 7-6 UFC) to earn a split decision victory.
The women’s flyweight bout was part of the UFC 263 preliminary card at Gila River Arena in Glendale, Ariz. It aired on ESPN following early prelims on ESPN+ and ahead of the main card on pay-per-view.
The first round began with a few striking exchanges in the center of the cage. Calderwood focused on mixing up punches and kicks, while Murphy stuck with punching and initiating a couple of clinches to threaten takedowns.
Calderwood landed a nice spinning elbow a few seconds before the round ended. The first round was a toss-up, with both fighters having success.
Murphy came out looking to lean on her wrestling skills in the second round. She secured a takedown and began landing ground and pound strikes while focusing on keeping control on top and looking for an opening for a choke.
Murphy won the second frame by spending the majority of the round on top of Calderwood, who just did her best to mitigate damage. A 10-8 score from a judge would be understandable.
Focusing on keeping the fight standing in the third, Calderwood looked to win striking exchanges while keeping Murphy from getting the fight back to the mat. Both fighters landed clean strikes, but Calderwood appeared to be the fresher fighter in the final round.
What a fight from these two! 👊
⚡️ @LaurenMurphyMMA and @DRKneevil go the distance at #UFC263.
[ Prelims are LIVE on @ESPN & @ESPNPlus ] pic.twitter.com/IIpM2ol5tC
— UFC (@ufc) June 13, 2021
The fight would go the distance, with two of the judges scoring the bout in favor of Murphy with scores of 29-28, while the dissenting judge scored the fight 29-28 for Calderwood.
LUCKY @LaurenMurphyMMA locks her 5th straight win 🙌#UFC263 pic.twitter.com/rZbTkpXI9J
— UFC (@ufc) June 13, 2021
Ahead of the bout, Murphy thought she would need to make a statement in this fight in order to secure a title shot against Valentina Shevchenko.
Now on a five-fight winning streak with no other clear No. 1 contender ahead of her, the run that began in 2019 could speak for itself when it comes time to determine the next challenger.
Up-to-the-minute UFC 263 results include:
- Lauren Murphy def. Joanne Calderwood via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Movsar Evloev def. Hakeem Dawodu via unanimous decision (29-27, 29-27, 29-27)
- Pannie Kianzad def. Alexis Davis via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Terrance McKinney def. Matt Frevola via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 0:07
- Steven Peterson def. Chase Hooper via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Fares Ziam def. Luigi Vendramini via majority decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-28)
- Carlos Felipe def. Jake Collier via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
