NEW YORK – Eduarda Moura beat Veronica Hardy with a unanimous decision Saturday to open the preliminary card at UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Take a look inside the fight with Moura, who called out Ivana Petrovic after her win, which put her back on the right side following the first loss of her pro career.
Eduarda Moura def. Veronica Hardy
Result: Eduarda Moura def. Veronica Hardy via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Updated records: Moura (11-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC), Hardy (9-5-1 MMA, 4-5 UFC)
Key stats: Hardy outstruck Moura 61-41, but the Brazilian had three takedowns and more than 4 minutes of control time.
Moura on the fight’s key moment
“The plan was to confuse her because I think she was expecting a grappling heavy fight, and we wanted to exchange with her. We have to back it up and we have the guts, we have the courage, for whatever we need to do to.”
Moura on being in New York
“Regardless of the result, this would have been an amazing week because I met everybody. I got to meet … all these people that inspired me. So it was an amazing opportunity and it just to represent my state and represent a place – you don’t have many fighters coming from (my town in Brazil). To me, it’s just an honor to be from there.”
Moura on what she wants next
“Next fight (will be at) flyweight. My visa goes up until January. I want to fight, so to try to get a fight as soon as possible would be flyweight (instead of strawweight). Give us Ivana Petrovic. … Nothing (negative against her). She just fought recently and I think she’s ready to go, so why not?”
To hear more from Moura, check out the video of the full post-fight interview above.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 309.
