UFC Fight Pass Invitational 11 saw history made as Wales’ Ffion Davies and Australia’s Adele Fornarino competed in the first female main event in FPI history.
The event, which took place at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, saw the two world champion flyweights go head to head in a battle between the world’s top two pound-for-pound female grapplers.
Davies and Fornarino topped a card packed with elite grappling talent, including the returning FPI 3 absolute champion Mason Fowler and the exciting featherweight talent William Tackett, who made his eagerly anticipated FPI debut.
The main event of the evening saw Wales’ Ffion Davies claim a split decision victory over Australia’s Adele Fornarino after three hard-fought rounds in their flyweight contest.
The action went to the mat instantly as both women took a seat early in Round 1. But it was Davies who assumed the top position as she looked to mount some early offense against the Aussie.
Fornarino stayed calm and composed as she defended well off her back before moving Davies into her closed guard.
The second round saw Fornarino on the attack as she grabbed a straight footlock and applied the pressure, but Davies refused to tap, despite an audible pop in the arena.
The Welsh grappler moved into top position as Fornarino continued her attack on Davies’ legs. Davies attempted to answer with a footlock, but the Aussie shook her head in defiance.
After two tightly contested rounds, the action went into the third and final round, with Fornarino again opting to work off her back, while Davies looked to be more aggressive from the top.
But it seemed like whatever Davies attempted, Fornarino had an answer as she effectively shut down the 2022 world champion’s attempts all the way to the final horn.
At the end of the bout, Fornarino was the one celebrating, while Davies looked less happy with her performance. However, when the judges’ scores were announced, it was Davies who was ruled the winner, with scores of 29-28, 27-30, 29-28.
After her victory, Davies admitted, “That’s not how I want to win. I’ve gotta be honest, I think it was very tight, but I would love a rematch. It doesn’t feel right to me. I’ve just got to be honest, I don’t want to win like that.
“I want a rematch. I would love to have a rematch with Adele.”
A clearly disappointed Fornarino put her frustrations to one side as she paid tribute to her opponent, then spoke of her pride in being able to compete in the headline slot of a Fight Pass International event.
“I don’t want to detract from the fact that this is the first ever female main event on UFC FPI,” she said.
“It’s not something to gloss over. It’s a very momentous occasion and a very historical occasion and we should be celebrating that, and I don’t want to put a dampener on that by any stretch. I hope there’s many more of these to come.”
Ana Carolina Vieira claimed a hard-earned decision victory on her Fight Pass Invitational debut as she defeated Las Vegas native Raquel Canuto via unanimous decision.
The two multi-time BJJ world champions tussled for superiority in a succession of tie-ups, and it took until the final 90 seconds of the round before the action hit the mat, courtesy of Vieira dragging Canuto down.
Vieira moved to side control, then moved to Canuto’s back, but time ran out before she had the opportunity to take full advantage of the most dominant position of the round.
Round 2 continued in a similar vein to the majority of the opening round, with Canuto looking to push the pace, but seeing her aggression nullified by Vieira.
Canuto dived for a single-leg takedown only for Vieira to snatch up her neck and lock up a tight guillotine choke. It looked like a tap was a formality, but Canuto hung tough and eventually managed to escape as the crowd inside the UFC APEX roared their approval. The pair then traded leglocks to round out an entertaining second frame.
Perhaps knowing she was down on the scorecards heading into the final round, Canuto went hunting for a takedown in the opening seconds of Round 3, but Vieira saw it coming and jumped a guillotine choke as she went for the finish again. This time Canuto looked more comfortable, and she calmly weathered the hold before popping her head free.
Canuto desperately tried to push the pace in the closing moments, but Vieira did well to play spoiler as she fended off the local favorite until the final horn to secure the decision victory.
If you blinked, there’s a good chance you would have missed William Tackett’s Fight Pass Invitational debut.
The featherweight Fight Factory product needed just 35 seconds to claim a first-round submission finish of Achilles Rocha in their 145-pound matchup.
Tackett grabbed a single, got the takedown and instantly took Rocha’s back. He quickly established a body triangle to control position, then locked up a rear-naked choke to force the tap for a quickfire submission victory.
“I wanted to take the first round kinda slow and see how it went,” said Tackett after his win.
“Chasing the back is my game… I knew if I could take his back and lock a body triangle in, I knew I could get the finish, under or over the neck.”
FPI 3 absolute champion Mason Fowler entered his match with Christiano Troisi as a -2000 favorite with the oddsmakers, and he demonstrated exactly why as he returned from a back injury to claim a highlight-reel first-round finish of Christiano Troisi.
Fowler asserted his dominance early as he forced Troisi to defend off his back. And, after an attempted back take finished up with Troisi escaping into Fowler’s guard, Fowler turned to his rubber guard, then locked up a hybrid omoplata/rear-naked choke to force the tap.
It was a crazy submission finish from Fowler, who declared himself the best 205-pounder in the world, and dared anyone who disagreed to challenge him under the UFC Fight Pass Invitational banner.
The evening’s all-Brazilian middleweight contest ended in a draw after Francisco Lo and Enrico Beltran Said battled to a stalemate after three highly competitive rounds.
After a relatively slow start in Round 1, tensions rose early in Round 2 as the pair attempted to shove each other across the mat, but when the action returned to the mat, it was Lo who appeared to be the aggressor. Said took a seat, and Lo looked to establish a dominant position.
With referee Ribeiro calling for more action, Lo locked up a calf slicer, only for Said to counter with one of his own. Lo stayed on the hold and attempted to switch to an inside heel hook, but Said worked hard to break the lock and ease the pressure, with Said’s toe inadvertently catching Lo in the eye as he looked to stay out of danger. Lo stayed calm and maintained control of Said’s left ankle to keep his offensive position to see out the round.
After a doctor checked out Lo’s eye between rounds, the action resumed with the final round, and Said landed a big takedown that nearly put Lo into the matside seating.
The pair were re-set in the center of the mat and, with Said looking to be aggressive, Lo took advantage and moved into mount. The pair continued to trade positions, with Lo opting to stay close to the mat, while Said attempted to work from the top. Said’s size and strength advantage was starting to take over against a tiring Lo, but he couldn’t quite find an opening to secure a late submission as the bout went to the judges’ scorecards for the first time this evening.
And, after the judges returned their verdict, the match was announced as a draw.
10th Planet Las Vegas grappler Shye Lilly stepped in on late notice to take on Alex Enriquez, and earned the respect of the crowd, and her opponent, with her stubborn resistance in the face of multiple submission attempts. But there was no denying Enriquez, who ran out the victor via second-round armbar after a dominant display.
Enriquez initiated a takedown 60 seconds in and dominated the round with a succession of submission attempts as she threatened to finish the bout on multiple occasions during the opening stanza. Enriquez attempted a mounted guillotine, then transitioned beautifully into a D’Arce choke to force Lilly to move to her back to negate the threat.
Enriquez continued to threaten from three-quarter mount but Lilly stayed calm from bottom position and stayed strong to avoid a last-gasp armbar at the end of the round.
The action in Round 2 picked up where it left off as Enrique went on the attack from the opening seconds, and the Las Vegas crowd applauded in appreciation as Lilly escaped yet another submission attempt by freeing herself from a rear-naked choke
Bantamweights hit the mat for our second match of the evening, and Keven Carrasco wasted no time as he claimed a first-round finish of Sebastian Oyervidez.
After some hand-fighting in the stand-up, Carrasco swept Oyervidez to the mat and briefly locked up an armbar, but Oyervidez did well to escape.
Carrasco stayed on the offensive, and locked up a triangle choke that seemed to have Oyervidez trapped. Oyervidez seemed to have enough space to survive, so Carrasco switched to a teepee choke and forced the tap as he claimed a crowd-pleasing first-round finish.
The opening match of the night saw João Assonitis claim a second-round submission victory as he forced Daniel Maira to tap to a heel hook after a bout dominated by leglock attempts.
Maira pulled guard immediately from the start, and as soon as Assonitis attempted to engage, the Philadelphia native went on the hunt for a heel hook. Both men ended up with dueling ankle locks, with Maira eventually disengaging to ensure he stayed out of trouble.
After a reset, Maira initiated another leg entanglement and looked to adjust as Assonitis attempted to counter with an ankle lock of his own. The leglock battle continued until the final minute of the round, when Maira quickly took Assonitis’ back, then attempted to finish a calf slicer as he underscored a strong opening round.
Maira took a seat early in Round 2 and looked to initiate another leg entanglement, but Assonitis stayed out of danger. Then, as Maira switched targets and went for a toehold, Assonitis snatched a heel hook and, after a couple of rolls to establish the hold, the 23-year-old forced the tap for the win.
