UFC Houston Results: Tecia Torres Frustrates Rawlings En Route To Decision Win

Two strawweight fighters looking to make a huge jump in the UFC rankings met in the UFC Houston to kick off the prelims when Tecia Torres (8-1) rematched Bec Rawlings (7-5)

Tecia Torres was closing in on a title shot last April when she faced Rose Namajunasin in the co-main event of UFC Tampa. She was defeated by unanimous decision and had not returned from the defeat since until tonight.

Recently Torres had begun floating around an idea of retirement, stating that she would like to start a family soon, and the fight life wouldn’t work anymore. If she does indeed intend to retire soon, she would most definitely like to leave on a high note with a victory over Bec Rawlings.

Bec Rawlings has struggled throughout her career with finding consistency, more often recently after being knocked out by Paige Vanzant with a flying head kick. Rawlings has been hoping to crack into the top 15 of strawweight for a long time now, and a win over a girl who has beaten her before in the number 6 strawweight, Tecia Torres could push her into that spot.

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Round one started with a feeling out process, neither able to really land anything of significance until Torres landed a series of kicks. Torres continued to land some combinations on Rawlings, throwing and getting out of the way as soon as she threw.

Her movement allowed her to move out of the way and answer with strong combinations. Rawlings looked to get something going with a pair of knees, but they seemed to do very little as Torres continued to look very sharp. Rawlings did, however have some success with leg kicks, likely occurred to her she had to cut off her movement. Torres threw a switch kick to the body to end the round.

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Rawlings opened the second round with a flurry and pushed to get inside. Torres shot for a takedown but Rawlings was able to counter and Rawlings to her to the ground. Rawlings held her against the cage and grabbed her neck with an awkward choke and Torres was able to take control. Rawlings fought her but Tecia took her right back down and took a dominant position. Tecia worked from the back and tried to lock in a rear-naked choke. Torres dominated this way and finished the round looking for an arm bar.

Bec was clearly down to begin the final round but Torres still looked completely fresh, her excellent cardio again showing up. Rawlings showed her class by flipping the crowd the bird, which as you could tell clearly got the crowd on her side. Rawlings still tried to pressure Torres but

Rawlings still tried to pressure Torres but Tecia’s movement did not allow her to get much going. Late in the round, Rawlings slipped and Torres was able to pounce and take a dominant position. Tecia looked for a finish all the way into the final bell, but Rawlings was just able to slip out at the end and finish with what looked to be a clear win. Rawling’s leg was all sorts of chewed up after the fight while Torres looked fresh and unharmed.

The judges scorecard read as they were expected, all 30-27 in favour of Tecia Torres, who sticks her name back into the title picture by possibly sticking herself back into the top 5. Though not a huge win for her, this could set a fight against a top 5 opponent, maybe against Claudia Gadelha or Karolina Kowalkiwicz. Torres says post fight she is pursuing her master’s degree, but it hasn’t taken her focus off the fight game, so those retirement rumours are put to rest for now.