On February 27, fighter Montana De La Rosa from Fort Worth, Texas takes on Mayra Bueno Silva from Uberlandia, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Competing in the Flyweight Division, 26 year old De La Rosa has the third highest time percentage in UFC Flyweight history. 29 year old Bueno Silva won her last fight vs. Borella by first submission. Silva weighting 125.5 pounds reaching 66.5 inches, De La Rosa comes in weighing 126 pounds reaching at 68 inches. Based in Las Vegas, Nevada, both fighters are eager to add another win to their record.

First Round

First round begins. De La Rosa and Silva step forward into the octagon. De La Rosa takes a few jabs in the air, testing Silva’s reactions. Silva attempts to trip her opponent, but De La Rosa does not lose her balance. Tip toeing around each other, Silva fires with a high oblique kick, but De La Rosa reacts quickly, grabbing and pulling her leg forward to get a headlock. Brazilian fighter scrams to get out of the Texan’s grasp giving a knee jab to De La Rosa’s face. Stepping back, both anticipate each other’s 1-2 jabs. De La Rosa attempts a roundhouse kick but the Brazilian dodges the hit. Silva lunges forward to do another knee jab to the head, attempting to bring her opponent down.

Trying to get a good grip, De La Rosa punches Silva into the cage. Moving her across the cage, De La Rosa gets her first takedown into the fight holding Silva’s lower body. Silva hoists herself up against the cage but gets caught grabbing the cage, losing a point. As they continue, De La Rosa does not take any time to attempt another takedown, while a couple knee jabs are exchanged. Silva gets pinned again but continues to knee jabs and elbow strikes to De La Rosa. With 1’ left, De La Rosa holds her opponent tightly until the clock is up. Silva tries to spin out of her grasp, but Montana keeps dominating until the last second.

Second Round Recovery

Second round starts and Silva gets ahead on her strikes. She gives a roundhouse kick followed by a couple jabs. The Texan gets another shot at taking Silva down, but Mayra “Sheetara” comes out on top. De La Rosa on her back, Silva tries to hold’s her down with her signature move. Releasing, Montana De La Rosa remains on the ground as Mayra Bueno Silva holds her feet. She strikes down to Montana as Texan kicks up to her. Silva releases, but De La Rosa is hesitant to get back up on her feet. With a couple low kicks towards the Brazilian for about ten seconds, she takes her chance and quickly goes back up.

Trotting around each other, De La Rosa pins her opponent to the cage. With patience, she gets her takedown using the butterfly hold. Only a couple second left, the Brazilian attempts to crawl out of her grasp, but Montana hold her tight throwing many strikes and jabs. In the last ten seconds, De la Rosa continues to headlock Silva until the final bell.

The Final Chance

As the last round begins, both opponents are energized and ready to take down each other. Light on her toes, De La Rosa goes in for the head but Silva does the same. Trying the stop mobility, Silva gets some knee jabs in until De La Rosa releases. With a couple low kicks, they go head-to-head as De La Rosa pushes her to the cage for the last time. De La Rosa grabs onto Silva’s leg to make her lose balance and gain another takedown. Falling to the ground she quickly escapes Montana’s grip backpedaling back to the center of the octagon.

A couple rounds of pinning to the cage were attempted by De La Rosa. Silva’s jabs and elbow strike made the Texan bleed from the side but continued to hold her position. With 30 seconds on the clock, De La Rosa pins Bueno Silva down again. Silva goes into butterfly position to release herself from the hold. De La Rosa gets her last couple hooks and jabs until the final bell. With a total of 23 strikes for De la Rosa and 35 for Silva in the final round, the judges concluded the fight as a Majority Draw of 28-28.