Holly Holm was really popular with people in Texas this week, and she did great in her first fight of the year. She fought Yana Santos as part of a big UFC San Antonio event and ended up winning on all three judges’ scorecards. To get the win, Holm used wrestling to control Santos during the whole match, which all three judges scored 30-26 and two gave her a score of 30-27.
Santos tried out some moves at first and then hit Holm in the close closeness. After Holm did a lot of front kicks, she managed to get Santos and won the round.
Holm took Santos down to the ground in the second round and was able to keep control. He hit Santos with shots and strikes until the referee came close to intervene near the end of the round. Despite Holm’s efforts, Santos made it until the end of the five-minute period.
Holm quickly got back to what was successful for her earlier in the contest, which was wrestling. She grabbed Santos early in Round 3 and held on to her for almost nine minutes before letting go. Holm stayed close to Santos and even hit her with a hard elbow at one point. In the end, Holm won the fight by getting one more strong takedown.
Santos, who used to be the bantamweight champion, managed to win a match and turn around from losing in a controversial decision to Ketlen Vieira. This was her fourth match out of four but the first one since July 2021 where she lost in the first round.
