Felice Herrig beats Simona Soukupova by Unanimous Decision at XFC 19

In a very precise display of counterpunching after the initial takedown tactics didn't pan out, Felice Herrig beat British fighter Simona Soukupova by Unanimous decision. Herrig was a big favorite going into this fight but Soukupova was not that far off of Herrig's ability. Soukupova was able to stop Herrig's takedowns during the first round but was pressed up against the cage, which lost her the first round. She was able to lock in the clinch during the fight but didn't do enough with it. The second round was the most dominant, with Herrig picking off Soukupova for almost the entire round. In the few times Soukupova let go and started swinging it was a lot more even and I'm surprised she didn't do this in the third round when she was obviously in need of a finish. The third round for me was hard to judge, Soukupova landed some good knees that for me gave her the round. I would give the fight 29-28 to Herrig. The judges gave it 29-28, 30-27 and 30-27. Soukupova looks like she is more than capable to hold her own in the division, she could perhaps move down to 105lbs as she was an inch or two shorter than Herrig. She next faces 6-0 Katja Kaankanpaa on Sep 14th at Botnia Punishment 12. Herrig's biggest problem was that her takedown attempts were very one-dimensional, not that this is rare in MMA (see the UFC) but it always surprises me that there are only a few fighters in MMA that have an array of takedown techniques. In the post-fight interview Herrig called out Lacey Schuckman who just lost to Ayaka Hamasaki in Invicta FC 2. While this would be a tough opponent there are several ranked fighters like Kaankanpaa, Sarah Schneider, Seo Hee Ham and Mei Yamaguchi that could also be interesting match-ups.

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