UFC Manchester results as Shauna Bannon beats Alice Ardelean on Leon Edwards v Belal Muhammad UFC 304 card
The Dubliner won via split-decision almost exactly a year on from suffering defeat in her first bout in the UFC
Shauna Bannon recorded her first UFC victory on Saturday night as she defeated Romanian Alice Ardelean in Manchester.
The Dubliner won via split-decision almost exactly a year on from suffering defeat in her first bout in the UFC when losing via unanimous decision to Brazil's Bruna Brasil in London.
Ardelean, who has over three million followers on TikTok and fights out of Birmingham's Fearless MMA, went the distance with Bannon in the opening bout of the night on the UFC 304 card, on which there were defeats for Irish pair Caolan Loughran and Kiefer Crosbie.
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Bannon was caught early on with a stiff left, deciding to keep Ardelean at range with looping and poking leg kicks. However, her opponent would close the distance with 3.30 left in the first round, pushing Bannon to the cage before securing a takedown. While Ardelean was happy to hold top position, Bannon would continually threaten with triangles and armbars from her back, with her coaches confident she had done enough to secure the round.
Bannon would land a clean flurry of ones and twos midway through the second round, forcing Ardelean backwards, but she would ultimately sweep her opponents back, pin her to the cage once more and secure another takedown with around a minute to go. Straight into side control, Ardelean landed a number of nice elbows, before securing a bulldog choke while looking to take Bannon's back - but the opportunity never arrived. More than likely 1-1 going into the third and final round.
Holohan Martial Arts alum Shauna would show more of the same as the third opened up, keeping her opponent at range with long side kicks to the body, mixing it up with a flush right hand and a knee which received a smile of acknowledgement from Ardelean. Both fighters looked fatigued by the midway point of the round, with Bannon continually looking for blitzes and Ardelean looking for a check hook which never came.
With three rounds in the bag, the two met either side of referee Mike Beltran to hear the judges' decisions - with Bannon atoning for her defeat to Brasil in her UFC debut last July with a split decision win over Ardelean as two judges scored the contest 29-28 and 30-27 in her favour, while the other had it 29-28 to Ardelean.
Meanwhile, Tyrone native Loughran suffered defeat via unanimous decision to Englishman Jake Hadley in their bantamweight bout shortly after England's Sam Patterson defeated Dubliner Crosbie by submission in the opening round of their welterweight contest.
UFC 304: Edwards v Muhammad results in full
- Main Event: Belal Muhammad defeats Leon Edwards by unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 49-46)
- Co-Main Event: Tom Aspinall defeats Curtis Blaydes by TKO (strikes) at 1:00 of Round 1
- Paddy Pimblett defeats King Green by submission (triangle choke) at 3:22 of Round 1
- Gregory Rodrigues defeats Christian Leroy Duncan by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Arnold Allen defeats Giga Chikadze by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Nathaniel Wood defeats Daniel Pineda by unanimous decision (29-27, 29-27, 29-28)
- Bruna Brasil defeats Molly McCann by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Jake Hadley defeats Caolan Loughran by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Muhammad Mokaev defeats Manel Kape by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
- Oban Elliott defeats Preston Parsons by unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
- Modestas Bukauskas defeats Marcin Prachnio by submission (arm-triangle choke) at 3:12 of Round 3
- Sam Patterson defeats Kiefer Crosbie by submission (arm-triangle choke) at 2:50 of Round 1
- Mick Parkin defeats Lukasz Brzeski by KO (strikes) at 3:23 of Round 1
- Shauna Bannon defeats Alice Ardelean by split decision (28-29, 29-28, 30-27)
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