UFC Fight Night 80 results: Kailin Curran brought to tears after submitting Emily Kagan

Kailin Curran

LAS VEGAS – Kailin Curran looked in danger of suffering her third consecutive loss, but one mistake from Emily Kagan led to her first octagon victory.

After a rough opening round in which she was forced to defend the aggressive offensive attack of Kagan (3-3 MMA, 0-2 UFC), Curran (4-2 MMA, 1-2 UFC) was able to find an opening in the second round for a fight-ending rear-naked choke.

The women’s strawweight bout opened the preliminary card of today’s UFC Fight Night 80 event at The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. It streamed on UFC Fight Pass.

Kagan brought the pressure from the outset. She swung wild strikes in order to close the distance and swarm Curran against the fence. Curran countered with a hip toss, but Kagan quickly moved back to her feet and continued to work from the clinch against the fence. After multiple attempts to put Curran on the ground, Kagan scored a late takedown but was nearly caught in a triangle choke before time ran out.

Noticeably fatigued from a high-output opening round, Kagan worked to close the distance in the second frame. Curran became more aware to her tactics, though, and the Hawaiian fighter was able to create distance in order to strike from the outside. Both fighters found success with kicks on the feet before Kagan went back to the clinch against the fence.

Kagan’s decision to go for a takedown in the clinch was her ultimate mistake because Curran countered and landed on top. She quickly scrambled to the back and after securing both hooks slipped her arm under the neck for the submission victory at 4:13 of Round 2.

Curran wept after the stoppage, finally having tasted success in the octagon.

“I just feel – it doesn’t even feel real,” an emotional Curran said after the fight. “The first round I didn’t feel like I was here yet. To get that position and capitalize on it, I just couldn’t believe it.”

Curran snapped a two-fight losing skid and improved to 4-2 with the victory while Kagan’s record dropped to an even 3-3.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 80 results include:

• Kailin Curran def. Emily Kagan via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 4:13

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 80, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(MMAjunkie’s John Morgan and Steven Marrocco contributed to this report on site in Las Vegas.)