Fighters from around the globe dream of the day they’ll step into the UFC octagon for the first time. For three athletes, Saturday’s UFC on ESPN+ 25 event marked that special moment in their career.
Check out this week’s rookie report to see what kind of first impression those fighters made on the sport’s biggest stage from Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho, NM.
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Shanna Young
Division: Women’s flyweight
Result: Macy Chiasson def. [autotag]Shanna Young[/autotag] via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-26)
Record: (7-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC)
Grade: D+
If we’re being honest, Shanna Young had the deck stacked against her from the moment she signed her bout agreement to fight in Rio Rancho.
The former Dana White’s Contender Series competitor agreed to step in on five days’ notice, at altitude, against a fired-up Macy Chiasson, who was determined to put things right after a bad weight cut helped send her to her first career defeat last time out. It meant Young was the biggest underdog on the card, and it was therefore perhaps no surprise that the fight didn’t go her way.
But although Young’s short-notice octagon debut ended in a unanimous decision defeat, there were certainly signs of promise from “The Shanimal” during the fight. Most notably, her first-round performance showed that she has dangerous strikes, particularly off her front foot, with her high kicks finding a home on the side of Chiasson’s head on a couple of occasions in the first few minutes of the fight. She also connected with some solid short elbows from the clinch during that opening round. But once Chiasson realized she could step inside Young’s kicks, the debutant found life much tougher against Chiasson’s clinch attack.
Young shipped a plethora of punishing knees to the midsection, then the head, as Chiasson dominated from the clinch in the second half of Round 1. Those knees may have finished flyweights with less concrete abs than Young, but she hung tough and absorbed everything Chiasson threw at her, while still firing back with elbows of her own. She also fared impressively well with her takedown defense and scrambling ability as she ensured she wasn’t pinned down for long spells on the mat.
Unsurprisingly, after taking such punishment to the midsection in the opening round, Young found the going much tougher in the second and third rounds as Chiasson was able to take the fight to the mat and dominate from top position. Young took a reasonable amount of punishment, but did enough off her back to make sure the referee never had to consider stepping in to stop the fight.
On reflection, a short-notice debut at altitude against fired-up, ranked, opposition probably wasn’t the ideal starting point for a fighter looking to hit the ground running on her UFC debut. But the experience of that first fight should stand Young in good stead for her next outing, which should come against unranked opposition after a full training camp. Then we should get a better chance to assess the prospect at 100 percent.
Young’s early striking success, combined with her grit, toughness, and conditioning on a night where the deck was stacked against her all ensured she earned a narrow pass mark in Rio Rancho. But the UFC matchmakers will likely need to see more from her after the three-minute mark in her next matchup.