UFC Fight Night: KO victory for Holms

Holly "The Preacher's Daughter" Holm found some salvation on Saturday night after knocking out Brazilian Bethe Correia.

The KO came one minute and nine seconds into the third round at the UFC Fight Night Singapore held at Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Coming off three straight defeats, Holm had every cause for celebration as she left Correia prostrate on the ground from a skilfully executed question mark kick and a thunderous left punch to the Brazilian's face.

Speaking at the post match press conference, Holm described how she felt doing her celebratory back flip following the convincing triumph.

Holm, who walked away with a US$50,000 performance bonus, said: "It felt amazing. It's been a long time. I've never been on a three fight loss like that.

"The victory means a lot."

The headline fight between the Bantamweight women started slowly with both women testing each other in a frustrating stalemate that lasted two rounds.

Correia landed the first punch of the bout only after one minute and 50 seconds of the first round, while Holm managed a spinning backfist four minutes into the second round, which drew dismayed boos from the 8,414 strong crowd at the Indoor Stadium.

The fight picked up in the third round as a seemingly agitated Correia picked up the pace of the fight and broke into a showboating spectacle in the first minute of the third round at Holm.

The rest was history.

Nine seconds later, Holm, unfazed by the Brazilian's antics, engineered a perfectly rendered question mark kick - smashing her shin into Correia's head - before finishing her floored opponent off with her vicious left hand.

Asked what was next for her, Holm joked: "Maybe a beer and some french fries, and a beautiful view of Singapore on top of the hotel.

"But the fight is over, and I am going to enjoy it tonight.

"There are still so many things that I did not do right. I want perfection all the time so I am going to go back and keep training," said Holm who walked away with her 11th professional MMA win.

This was the first UFC event in Singapore for three years.

In the co-headliner, Marcin Tybura walked away the victor in a unanimous decision victory over UFC world number eight heavyweight Andrei Arlovski.

The other two main fight card events featured two welterweight bouts. Brazilian Rafael dos Anjos excelled in his welterweight debut against Tarec Saffiedine by unanimous decision.

Similarly, by way of unanimous decision, American Colby Covington nullified South Korean Dong Hyun Kim to walk away with the win.

The results

Undercard

Women's Bantamweight bout - Lucie Pudilova defeated Ji Yeon Kim by unanimous decision

Men's Flyweight bout - Naoki Inoue defeated Carls John de Tomas by unanimous decision

Men's Bantamweight bout - Russell Doane defeated Kwan Ho Kwak by first round TKO

Men's Welterweight bout - Li Jing Liang defeated Frank Camacho by unanimous decision

Men's Flyweight bout - Ulka Sasaki defeated Justin Scoggins by second round submission, rear naked choke

Men's Featherweight bout - Alex Caceres defeated Rolando Dy by second round TKO, Doctor Stoppage

Men's Heavyweight bout - Walt Harris defeated Cyril Asker by first round TKO

Men's Lightweight bout - Jon Tuck defeated Takanori Gomi by first round submission, rear naked choke

Main Card

Men's Welterweight bout - Rafael dos Anjos defeated Tarec Saffiedine by unanimous decision on his welterweight debut

Men's Welterweight bout - Colby Covington defeated Dong Hyun Kim by unanimous decision

Men's Heavyweight bout - Marcin Tybura defeated Andrei Arlovski by unanimous decision

Women's Bantamweight bout - Holly Holm defeated Bethe Correia by third round knockout