Karine Silva’s 11th career first-round stoppage was her most significant to date.
Silva (15-4 MMA, 1-0 UFC) made quick work of Poliana Botelho (8-5 MMA, 3-4 UFC) in the opening round of their women’s flyweight bout on Saturday at UFC Fight Night 207, which took place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
After landing a thumping punch that put her opponent on the canvas, Silva jumped on top and sliced through her opponent’s defense and into the D’Arce choke, which was just the second finish of its kind in women’s UFC history. It was in deep, too, because Botelho tapped with just five seconds left in the opening round.
Check out the replay of the submission below (via Twitter):
11th first round finish for Karine Silva, what a UFC debut 😤 #UFCVegas56 pic.twitter.com/FQpmuRLaNd
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) June 4, 2022
With the win, Silva’s perfect 100 percent finishing rate remained in tact. She’s finished the overwhelming majority of those inside the first round, proving herself to be a potential new threat at 125 pounds.
“The plan was to go in there and touch her a little bit and just go for it,” Silva said through an interpreter in her post-fight interview with Paul Felder. “I said it, ‘If I hit her, I’m going to hit her hard and I’m going to knock her down.'”
Up-to-the-minute results of UFC Fight Night 207 include:
- Karine Silva def. Poliana Botelho via submission (D’Arce choke) – Round 1, 4:55
- Ode Osbourne def. Zarrukh Adashev via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 1:01
- Alonzo Menifield def. Askar Mozharov via TKO (elbows) – Round 1, 4:40
- Karolina Kowalkiewicz def. Felice Herrig via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 4:01
- Joe Solecki def. Alex Da Silva via majority decision (28-28, 28-27, 29-27)
- Damon Jackson def. Dan Argueta via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Benoit Saint-Denis def. Niklas Stolze via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 1:32
- Tony Gravely def. Johnny Munoz Jr. via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 1:08
- Jeff Molina def. Zhalgas Zhumagulov via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 30-27)
- Rinat Fakhretdinov def. Andreas Michailidis via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-27)
- Erin Blanchfield def. JJ Aldrich via submission (standing guillotine choke) – Round 2, 2:38
