TESS VALMORE

I always wonder why a new fighter is introduced. They lose their first fight about 99% of the time. In this case, maybe it was because Mayberry desperately needed a win. A loss would drop her to a 50% win ratio, which is some stables could be the kiss of death. Mayberry won, so now she’s at 60% and acceptable most anywhere.

The Chastain/Knightley fight was not exactly a gimme. After years of being a punching bag Knightley had some success recently, but this was a bantam/flyweight fight. Chastain has been coming along quite nicely. In this bout, she won her tenth in eleven bouts. She has been overshadowed by her stablemate Winnick’s success. She deserves more action.

The Gardner/Lipa bout was another bout between members of different weight classes Gardner is a bantam while Lipa was a lightweight. Lipa’s win over Ratajkowski should have been notice that Gardner may be getting in over her head. She did and it cost her.

Does competition help? Cole, who had a long winning streak broken in her last fight, built that streak by staying away from ranked fighters. Lavigne, on the hand wasn’t as successful, but she was losing to top of the line opponents. That experience served her well. Note: Cole did lost to Panettiere in the April PPV but this bout was scheduled before that fight.

The Roberts/V.Hudgens main event was a great fight multiple knockdowns in a bout between bitter enemies (Seems like Hudgens is everyone’s bitterest enemy) The fans certainly got their money’s worth in this bout that went all the way into the tenth before Hudgens put Roberts away. I have to wonder what in the world Stewart was thinking in being in Roberts corner. It not only got Hudgens attention, but the attention of all the flyweights. It also but a big block in Roberts ever fighting Stewart for a title. I wonder if the Wiz knew this was going to happen. I won’t go into the post fight activities that also featured Stewart.