UFC Fight Night 83 results: Lauren Murphy bloodies Kelly Faszholz in TKO win

Lauren Murphy

PITTSBURGH – For a UFC first-timer, Kelly Faszholz showed a lot of poise early on in a late-notice bout against Lauren Murphy. But as the fight wore on, the more experienced Murphy (9-2 MMA, 1-2 UFC) wore her down and eventually put Faszholz (3-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) away, earning a late TKO finish at the 4:55 mark of Round 3.

The women’s bantamweight bout was part of the preliminary card of today’s UFC Fight Night 83 event at CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh. It streamed on UFC Fight Pass ahead of additional prelims and a main card on FOX Sports 1.

Faszholz did her best work in the first half of Round 1, when she backed Murphy up with sharp combinations that effectively exploited Murphy’s at times overly aggressive attack.

But Murphy soon found her rhythm, as well as a home for her right hand, blooding Faszholz’s nose before the end of the first frame.

Murphy continued to pressure Faszholz in the second, with more of her strikes getting through as Faszholz seemed to struggle to keep up with her pace. Murphy refused to let up, battering Faszholz with right hands and keeping her on the defensive as the fight went on.

Early in the second, Murphy looked to cement her lead on the scorecards with a takedown, and from there used a grinding ground-and-pound attack to move to full mount in the waning minutes of the fight. Faszholz continued to fight gamely, but she was unable to either get Murphy off of her or halt the torrent of blows that had no trouble finding her already bloody face, and with just seconds to go the bout was finally halted due to strikes.

The win is Murphy’s first in the UFC, snapping a two-fight losing streak from two very close decision losses. Faszholz loses for the first time in her professional career.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 83 results include:

• Lauren Murphy def. Kelly Faszholz via TKO (strikes) – Round 3, 4:55
• Shamil Abdurakhimov def. Anthony Hamilton via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 83, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(MMAjunkie’s Matt Erickson contributed to this report on site in Pittsburgh.)