LAS VEGAS – Luana Carolina beat Julija Stoliarenko with a third-round submission Saturday on the preliminary card at UFC Fight Night 235 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Take a look inside the fight with Carolina, who missed weight and was ineligible for a performance bonus for the finish – which came after she fended off multiple close submission attempts.
Luana Carolina vs. Julija Stoliarenko
Result: Luana Carolina def. Julija Stoliarenko via TKO (strikes) – Round 3, 4:52
Updated records: Carolina (10-4 MMA, 5-3 UFC), Stoliarenko (11-8-1 MMA, 2-6 UFC)
Key stats: Carolina outstruck Stoliarenko 138-21 overall.
Carolina on the fight's key moment
“I’m not going to say she had me. I’m not going to say it was loose, because it definitely wasn’t. Otherwise I would’ve gotten out of there early. But I do feel that when she had me, I was very calm, very collected in the position that I was in, and I understand her strength. I kept one hand in control, but I know what she was trying to do. We know that she always goes for the armlock.”
Carolina on her weight miss
“It was a miscalculation, first and foremost. I did dehydration in a different manner. Toward my last day, I already started drinking way less water than most (other times). So they said, ‘Do it this way, and everything’s going to be all right.’ Well, stuff that I do that I will end up losing 2-3 pounds on, I was losing half of it and not even losing at all on my last day, in my last attempts.
“We were over by about 3 pounds, so she didn’t accept it at first – rightfully so; it’s her right to not accept it. So we go back to the PI and some stuff that was not working before started working a little bit. We lost the equivalent of that pound within three rounds of training for 30 minutes. It was half sweat and half crying, so half tears, because I was like, listen, God, I want to fight more than anything. Everything we’ve gone through, everything we’ve been through to actually get to this point, all I want to do is fight.”
Carolina on what she wants next
“I would like to fight girls in the top 15. I want a challenge. I don’t want to just be here. I want that challenge to happen and I want people to fear me. I want people to say, ‘Hey, I’m going to fight Luana. This is going to be tough.'”
To hear more from Carolina, check out the video of the full post-fight interview above.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 235.
