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On Saturday night at UFC Vegas 72, Irina Alekseeva made a strong first impression in the octagon. A lot of hype surrounded Alekseeva before the event. Some of it was diminished by the fact that she missed weight by a whopping four pounds.
While Alekseeva gave a poor impression of herself in the lead-up to UFC Vegas 72 by failing to make weight, she showed up to deliver a strong performance once inside the cage.
‘Russian Ronda’ finished the bout early by submitting Stephanie Egger with a kneebar in the first round on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. After some early clinch work, Alekseeva rolled into a kneebar and bent Egger’s leg, forcing her to tap at the 2:11 mark of the first round.
After her bout, Irina Alekseeva revealed in the post-fight presser that she had stopped her weight cut with only four pounds to go because she experienced an adverse response to the rehydration process prescribed by the UFC [translated]:
“Yesterday after the weight cut was done, after we weighed in, whatever the recovery things that the UFC gave me, I had an allergic reaction to it. I was sick [and] I kept on throwing up. My face turned completely red and I didn’t know what was happening.”
Alekseeva added:
“I went back to the PI [Performance Institute]…. they were monitoring me and trying to make sure that I was fine. All the way to the late evening, I still wasn’t feeling well. I still felt nauseous.”
Catch Irina Alekseeva’s comments below:
Irina Alekseeva reacts to executing the only fourth knee bar in UFC women’s history
Irina Alekseeva’s kneebar submission victory over Stephanie Egger made her only the fourth woman in UFC history to do so.
In addition to her stunning kneebar submission victory over Stephanie Egger in the first round, Irina Alekseeva’s post-fight celebration was perhaps more noteworthy since it resembled Conor McGregor’s trademark strut, known as the “Billi Strut.” The tribute Alekseeva paid to the Irishman’s signature stride elevated an already spectacular UFC debut to new heights.
Speaking in her post-fight media interview on being the only fourth woman in UFC history to pull off the kneebar, Alekseeva said:
“I did not know that…. But I’m really happy to know that [since] this was just my debut and I already made history.”
Check out Alekseeva’s full UFC Vegas 72 post-fight media interview below:
