You’ve never seen a UFC women’s fight end with a hit like this, and an out athlete delivered it

Saturday night’s “UFC 318” event saw the mixed martial arts world say goodbye to one of the sport’s best as Dustin Poirier fought valiantly in the main event in front of a hometown New Orleans crowd.

Out LGBTQ fighter Carli Judice made sure that stellar hometown performances bookended the UFC’s return to “The Big Easy.”

Judice, a relative newcomer to the UFC, kicked off the night in the Smoothie King Center with a third-round TKO victory over Nicolle Caliari that ignited the crowd. 

The Lafayette, La., native sent Caliari crumpling to the canvas with a gnarly knee hit to the liver 90 seconds into the third round to take her second straight TKO victory and move her UFC record to 2-1 and overall record to 5-2.

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“I can’t describe how it feels,” Judice said after the fight. “It’s easy for a high-pressure situation like this, to fight under Dustin Poirier, to start off the card, you know, it’s easy for it to get to you, but I didn’t let it. I let it drive me and it led to the finish, all of the support and love.”

The liver hit closed out a fight where Judice put on a clinic in striking and takedown defense. The 26-year-old landed multiple knee hits during the fight, mixing in solid punching combinations while stuffing seven of Caliari’s eight takedown attempts and quickly escaping the only takedown the Brazilian scored in the third round.

Judice earned her second consecutive Performance of the Night bonus for the finish and her win also made her the first woman to score TKO victories via both kick and knee hit in UFC history.

The finish drew praise from MMA analysts, with some calling the woman known as “Crispy” the best 5-2 fighter in the sport currently and a talent to watch in the UFC Flyweight division. Judice’s fiancé was succinct in her celebration on Instagram: “You deserve it all.”

After celebrating with her Krispy Kreme calling card, Judice said she wants to fight one more time before the year ends. If that happens, expect more eyes to be on her.  

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