Viktoriia Dudakova won her UFC debut and remained undefeated, but not in a manner anyone would have expected, much less wanted.
Dudakova (7-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) stepped into the cage to face Istela Nunes, who was hunting for her first victory in the UFC. But just as the fight was getting started, it ended due to a nasty injury to Nunes (6-5 MMA, 0-4 UFC) just 34 seconds into the bout.
Dudakova attempted to bring the fight to the ground by shooting for a single leg takedown. As Nunes was going down, she posted with the left arm, but it buckled underneath her as her body weight came down.
Nunes immediately screamed in pain as it appeared her elbow was dislocated. Dudakova realized the injury and backed away as the referee rushed in.
Istela Nunes snaps her arm pic.twitter.com/H3xdDGJMh6
— MMA Mania (@mmamania) July 16, 2023
Unfortunately for Nunes, she walks away with her fourth UFC loss, and remains winless in the promotion.
After the fight, UFC president Dana White shared a photo of Nunes’ X-ray on his Instagram Story:
Up-to-the-minute UFC on ESPN 49 results include:
- Viktoriia Dudakova def. Istela Nunes via TKO (injury) – Round 1, 0:34
- Melquizael Costa def. Austin Lingo via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27)
- Evan Elder def. Genaro Valdez via unanimous decision (30-26, 29-28, 29-28)
- Azat Maksum def. Tyson Nam via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Alexander Munoz def. Carl Deaton via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 29-28)
- Ailin Perez def. Ashlee Evans-Smith via unanimous decision (30-25, 30-25, 30-26)
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 49.
