Karolina Kowalkiewicz def. Silvana Gomez Juarez at UFC 281.

By Damilola Animasahun. 

              Credit: Youtube/UFC

Scoring controversy aside, Karolina Kowalkiewicz came away from UFC 281 with a cleardecision win over Silvana Gomez Juarez.

Former strawweight title challenger Kowalkiewicz righted the ship in her last fight, after a rough five fight skid. 

Her opponent at UFC 281 would be Entram Gym trainee Gomez Juarez, a striker known for her knockout power but a deficiency to grappling, having been armbarred in her first two UFC fights before scoring an impressive, eighty-two second knockout over Liang Na in her last fight.

Despite being the same age on paper as her opponent at thirty-seven years old, Kowalkiewicz was much older in fight years having fought in major promotions like KSW and Invicta starting in 2012 and in the UFC since 2015. 

The question was if that experience could win out against the hard hitting newcomer.

The athletes came out trading jabs, with Juarez being more active initially as she tried to draw Kowalkiewicz into the knockout shot. 

Kowalkiewicz began to use the front foot to push Juarez back. 

Karolina was then able to take her down off of a caught leg kick and immediately transition to the back with both hooks in, then switch to a body triangle. 

Juarez used the wrist control to avoid getting submitted as she tried to escape. She got to her knees but Kowalkiewicz stayed on the back expertly. 

The fence helped Juarez clear one hook

momentarily but then Karolina got back on right away and snaked her forearm under Juarez’s chin as the Mexican fighter tried to stand up.