Holly Holm knocked out Bethe Correia with a head kick in the third round to win the women’s bantamweight clash — the main fight of the night — in the UFC fight night at the Singapore indoor stadium here on Saturday.
Colby Covington defeated Dong Hyun Kim by unanimous decision (27-30, 25-30, and 26-30) in the men’s welterweight division. Rafael dos Anjos defeated Tarec Saffiedine, also by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) in the same category.
Marcin Tybura beat Andrei Arlovski in men’s heavyweight (29-28, 28-27, and 29-27).
There are two sets of fights to a UFC fight night — the preliminary fight card and the main fight card.
The former is a set of fights between fighters ranked a rung below the main card fighters.
These fighters are to progress and qualify to be slotted for the main fight cards. With due credit to its significance, the preliminary card is designed, from the way the whole event is scheduled and served up, as an appetiser for the potentially filling main card that the fans gather more keenly for. And then, there’s the main fight in the main card itself — like the Correia vs. Holm fight.
A fight is for three rounds of five minutes each. So a fighter’s primary focus is to grapple and lock the opponent into a ‘submission hold’ that makes them want to give up. For instance, there’s the rear naked choke which is to tighten the arm round the opponent’s neck from behind them.
It’s punches and kicks otherwise, in any martial art form one’s able at. There’s a lot of head blow as if it’s casual.
It is for the deadly deal-breakers — the submission holds — that the fan-cheering peaks.
The staging and the brutality of the fight resembles a WWE wrestling match. Only, the latter is scripted. The fight is held in a caged ring that’s called an “Octagon” for the shape of it.
The results: Women’s bantamweight: Holly Holm bt Bethe Correia (k/o); Men’s welterweight: Colby Covington bt Dong Hyun Kim; Rafael dos Anjos bt Tarec Saffiedine; Heavyweight: Marcin Tybura bt Andrei Arlovski.
(The reporter is in Singapore at the invitation of Sony Pictures Network)
