Former women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm returned to the win column on Saturday with a spectacular third-round knockout over Bethe Correia to cap off an action-packed card from Singapore.
Holm entered the fight with three straight losses, so she knew this was a make or break moment if she wanted to get back into title contention. Holm stuck to her game plan early by not over extending in her striking attack while waiting for the normally aggressive Correia to come after her.
While the first two rounds didn’t produce a ton of exciting exchanges, Holm changed all that in the third round after Correia smiled and taunted at her while standing in the center of the Octagon. A moment after Correia threw her hands into the air, Holm answered with a beautifully timed kick that hooked around the Brazilian’s defense and landed flush against the face.
Correia crashed to the canvas before Holm delivered one final shot to put an exclamation point on her performance as she celebrated her first win since knocking out Ronda Rousey with a similar head kick back in 2015.
Despite a tough run in her most recent fights, fantasy players had this main event fight well scouted, with an overwhelming 91 percent picking Holm to win and another 70 percent saying that she would get the job done by knockout.
In the co-main event, Marcin Tybura pulled off one of the bigger upsets on the card as he earned a unanimous decision win over former heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski. Tybura got the victory after a grueling three-round battle, with 32 percent of fantasy players picking him in the matchup on Saturday.
Colby Covington also picked up a huge win as an underdog with a lopsided decision over top 10-ranked welterweight Dong Hyun Kim. Covington was picked by only 31 percent of players, but he won in a rout as he picks up a signature win while undoubtedly making his first appearance in the UFC rankings next week.
The upsets ended on the main card with former lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos picking up his first win at 170 pounds as he defeated Tarec Saffiedine after three rounds. Going into the fight, 83 percent of fantasy players had picked Dos Anjos, with another 65 percent correctly predicting that he would win by decision.
On the preliminary card, Jon Tuck earned an impressive first-round submission win over lightweight legend Takanori Gomi after 54 percent of fantasy players had selected him in the fight. Walt Harris also earned one of the biggest highlights of the night with his knockout over Cyril Asker in a heavyweight showdown. Harris was selected by a whopping 87 percent of fantasy players, with 71 percent then picking him to win by knockout, which is exactly what he did in the fight.
Veteran competitor Alex Caceres was another of the heaviest favorites on the card after he put away Rolando Dy in their fight. Caceres was selected by an overwhelming majority, with 92 percent of fantasy players picking him to win.
One of the larger upsets on the entire card, not to mention the prelims, was Ulka Sasaki pulling off an impressive submission victory over highly touted flyweight contender Justin Scoggins. Sasaki was only selected by 21 percent of fantasy players, and his victory earned huge bonus points with an extra 175 being handed out because he was such an underdog going into the fight.
In the Fight of the Night from Singapore, Li Jingliang picked up another win in a hard fought battle with Frank Camacho over three rounds. Jingliang was selected by 76 percent of fantasy players, with another 57 percent correctly predicting his win by decision.
Russell Doane also pulled off one of the more impressive upsets on the card after he earned a knockout victory against Kwan Ho Kwak. Doane was picked by just 35 percent of fantasy players, but he came through with a huge win after traveling to Singapore for the card.
All told, UFC Fight Night: Holm vs. Correia produced eight favorites coming away with victories according to the picks made by fantasy players, with only four upsets out of the 12 fights on the card.
