Viviane Araujo’s showing at UFC on ESPN 20 was a dominant one.
For the majority of the 15-minute bout, Araujo (10-2 MMA, 4-1 UFC) outworked former UFC women’s flyweight title challenger Roxanne Modafferi en route to a unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26).
The women’s flyweight bout was part of the UFC on ESPN 20 main card at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. It aired on ESPN.
Throughout the fight, Araujo displayed the skill differential between herself and Modafferi (25-18 MMA, 4-6 UFC) in various areas. The gap in the levels of the two fighters’ striking, in particular, was on full display.
Late in Round 1, Araujo appeared to be close to a submission. However, the sequence never played out in full as the horn sounded.
In Round 2, Modafferi landed her best offense of the night – a right hand that briefly stunned Araujo. A second later, however, Araujo was back to dominating.
Round 3 was more of the same, with Araujo having her way with Modafferi on the feet and on the ground. A late Araujo takedown put a stamp on an already one-sided performance. Swollen and bloody, Modafferi displayed her signature toughness and veteran grit en route to the final horn.
VIVI! 🇧🇷
A stunning performance by @ViviAraujoMMA to get the W.
[ #UFCFightIsland8 | #InAbuDhabi | @VisitAbuDhabi ] pic.twitter.com/SwtOyG4THn
— UFC (@ufc) January 20, 2021
With the victory, Araujo turns a lone unanimous decision win over Montana De La Rosa in September into a winning streak. Araujo has only lost once since 2017 – a unanimous decision defeat to Jessica Eye in December 2019.
As for Modafferi, her streak of alternating losses and wins continues. Since her UFC return, a December 2017 title fight vs. Nicco Montano, Modafferi has never accumulated a winning streak or losing skid.
Up-to-the-minute UFC on ESPN 20 results include:
- Viviane Araujo def. Roxanne Modafferi via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
- Matt Schnell def. Tyson Nam via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Lerone Murphy def. Douglas Silva de Andrade via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
- Omari Akhmedov def. Tom Breese via submission (arm-triangle choke) – Round 2, 1:41
- Ricky Simon def. Gaetano Pirrello via submission (arm-triangle choke) – Round 2, 4:00
- Su Mudaerji def. Zarrukh Adashev via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
- Dalcha Lungiambula def. Markus Perez via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Francisco Figueiredo def. Jerome Rivera via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Mike Davis def. Mason Jones via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Umar Nurmagomedov def. Sergey Morozov via technical submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 3:39
- Manon Fiorot def. Victoria Leonardo via TKO (head kick, punches) – Round 2, 4:08
