Dana White tells Yana Kunitskaya she ‘absolutely, positively won’ against Ketlen Vieira at UFC Vegas 19

UFC Vegas 19 got off to a hot start with a plethora of awesome finishes, and it would end the night on the same note. However, directly before the main event, there was some controversy at bantamweight — UFC President Dana White believes the judges got things right.

At 135-pounds, top-ranked contenders Ketlen Vieira and Yana Kunitskaya took centerstage. After a competitive grappling heavy contest that saw round-by-round momentum shifts, “Foxy” would come out on top (literally) and get her hand raised by unanimous decision.

“She didn’t do anything,” White said of Vieira to Kunitskaya over a FaceTime call (via Reddit). “You threw all the strikes. To the body, to the head, kept punching, never stopped punching. Outstruck her 178 to like 16 or something. You absolutely, positively won that fight.”

A late couple of heavy elbow strikes that bloodied Vieira wound up sealing the deal for Kunitskaya after being controlled for four minutes and 14 seconds of round three per UFC Stats. As mentioned by Dana White, the overall striking stats were not close. Kunitskaya outlanded her opposition 215 to 35 in total strikes.

The win puts the Russian back on a winning streak and will surely boost her up the rankings a spot or two. Now, Kunitskaya targets a potential rematch with the last person to defeat her, Aspen Ladd.

“Every fight is important,” Kunitskaya said after the win. “I was not happy with my performance against Aspen. I feel I can do better than that. If I could get the rematch, that would be my dream fight. I want to prove I can beat anyone.”

Kunitskaya vs. Ladd happened in December 2019 and saw Ladd the victor by second-round TKO. It was only Kunitskaya’s second loss via strikes and just her second in the UFC after her 2018 debut.