by The sole female fight scheduled for UFC Fight Night 138 will be a bantamweight bout on the preliminary card as Sarah Moras takes on Talita Bernardo. Both women will be looking for a future shot to break into the top 15 or even a chance to remain in the UFC.
Canadian mixed martial artist, Sarah “Cheesecake” Moras began her UFC career by winning her debut The Ultimate Fighter 19 finale with a unanimous decision against Alexis Dufresne.
Moras was out of the octagon for a year before facing Jessica Andrade in July 2015. During the fight, Moras took a brutal beating. Though offered every chance to quit, she continued to fight all the way to the end when she attempted a rear naked choke with seconds ticking down. Ultimately Andrade did not succumb and Moras lost the bout by unanimous decision.
Moras would be absent from UFC for another two years before facing off against Ashlee Evans-Smith in September of 2017. Coming in as an underdog, Moras surprised everyone by submitting Evans-Smith in less than three minutes of the first round with a brutal arm bar. Moras came back in February of 2018 to face Lucie Pudilova, only to lose by another unanimous decision.Moras has a strong ground game and could be a real threat if she learned how to take her opponent down without being obvious and dominate them on the ground as she did with Evans-Smith.
Talita Bernardo is a specialist in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She was on a three fight win streak when she signed with the UFC, and though she has only fought twice with the UFC, she has yet to see a win. Her debut came in September 2017 against a then number 11 ranked Marion Reneau. Bernardo had hoped to use her grappling skills against Reneau but was predominately outmatched. Reneau controlled much of the ground game and ended with a TKO by ground-and-pound with six seconds before the final bell.Bernardo returned to the cage in January 2018 to face Irene Aldana. Bernardo seemed to have improved her ground game, putting up a good fight in the second round. However, she was rocked early by Aldana’s ferocious striking capabilities. Bernardo was not able to fully recover in order to come up with a competent defense and Aldana took the victory home with a unanimous decision.
Bernardo had an amazing career before UFC, gaining back-to-back first round submissions in her first two professional fights. If she wants to prove herself she’ll have to recapture her former ferocity and take Moras out early so there is no doubt as to who belongs.
Both Bernardo and Moras hold two losses early in their UFC career, and a third could spell trouble for their fighting future inside of the Octagon. These two fighters will be hungry to prove their worth on this elite stage, and will bring a ferocity fueled by survival instinct.
To find out who is the hungrier warrior, tune into the preliminary card which will be aired on FS1 Saturday, October 27th at 8 PM EDT.
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