LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - DECEMBER 19: (R-L) Gillian Robertson of Canada punches Taila Santos of Brazil in a flyweight fight during the UFC Fight Night event at UFC APEX on December 19, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLC)
UFC flyweight Gillian Robertson is looking to start the new year off with a win.
This is the sort of fighter Robertson is: after coming up short against short-notice opponent Taila Santos at UFC Vegas 17 in December, Robertson went ahead and competed against Pearl Gonzalez at Submission Underground 20 all of ten days later, getting her hand raised thanks to a rear-naked choke.
Grappling Report: SUG 19 Crowns Inaugural Women’s Champion as Mason Fowler Retains his Title
A rundown of the biggest headlines and news from the world of competitive grappling.
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Submission Underground 19 saw a huge step forward for Chael Sonnen’s promotion as they crowned their very first female champion. Amanda Loewen overcame a stiff challenge from UFC Featherweight title contender Felicia Spencer by locking up an armbar inside the four minute-mark to be awarded the title. The rest of the card was stacked with plenty of elite MMA fighters in one of SUG’s biggest events to date.
Former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos did not appreciate a recent comment from MMA superstar Conor McGregor.
Earlier this week, McGregor took to Twitter to congratulate the UFC on a successful year. In his Tweet, McGregor claimed that his January fight with Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone was the UFC’s biggest pay-per-view of the year. He also gave Cerrone props for tapping Rafael dos Anjos at last Sunday’s Submission Underground 19 card.
While Cerrone ended up tapping dos Anjos in overtime, he appeared to force his Brazilian rival to tap earlier in the match, too. For that reason, McGregor stated that Cerrone submitted dos Anjos twice.
UFC superstar Conor McGregor revealed that UFC 246: McGregor vs. Cowboy has been confirmed as the highest-selling UFC pay-per-view of 2020.
Initially, it appeared that UFC 251: Usman vs. Masvidal was the highest-selling PPV at 1.3 million buys. However, McGregor posted a photo on his social media on Monday showing a letter from the UFC indicating that UFC 246 sold 1,353,429 PPVs, which means it would edge out the 1.3 million number that UFC 251 did. McGregor, ever the salesman, took to his Twitter to share the news that he and Cerrone are the highest-selling PPV of the year.
Congrats to the @ufc on a well fought 2020! The only sporting company on the planet to come through the entire year! Incredible!
Tap or push? Donald Cerrone armbars Rafael dos Anjos twice in controversial grappling bout
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Donald Cerrone has two previous losses against Rafael dos Anjos in the UFC, a decision in 2013 and a TKO loss in 2015. Half a decade later, Cowboy got some of that back with two armbar wins over the former lightweight champion. Well, sort of.
Cerrone and Dos Anjos faced off in a grappling bout at Submission Underground 19, which ended up with a bit of controversy. In overtime, Cowboy locked in an armbar, which RDA looked to have tapped to. He immediately denied it though, claiming it was just a push to defend.