Ailin Perez won her fourth fight in a row on Saturday night by defeating Darya Zheleznyakova at UFC Fight Night 243. Perez made Zheleznyakova give up at 3:53 into the first round.
This win was important for Perez as she wants to move up in the rankings for the UFC bantamweight championship. The title is currently held by Raquel Pennington, who was ranked 15th going into the fight.
What really caught fans’ attention right after the match was how Perez celebrated. She got up from the hold she had on Zheleznyakova and started twerking in her face.
Perez explained to journalist Ariel Helwani that she did it because “Darya said some very disrespectful things about me before the fight, so I had to do it.”
The 29-year-old fighter from Argentina missed the weight limit by half a pound, weighing in over the 136-pound limit for bantamweights. It seemed like she had a tough time cutting weight on Friday morning. Because of this, she had to give 20% of her earnings to Zheleznyakova, according to Yahoo Sports.
With this win, Perez improved her record to 11 wins and 2 losses in her mixed martial arts career. She is 4-1 since her UFC debut in September 2022, where she lost to Stephanie Egger. She hasn’t lost a fight since then.
Before joining the UFC, she fought in several promotions, including Samurai Fight House, Natal Fight Championship, Collision Fight Ultimate, and Mixed Real World Fighters.
