Priya Sharma earned a hard fought decision win over an experienced Brazilian opponent at SFT 43 in Sao Paulo last weekend. The Indian strawweight had her hand raised at the end of the three round fight against Ireni Oliveira.
Sharma has been training in Brazil at the Academia Ribas Family. She has clearly been working on her ground game and set out to take Oliveira down and keep her down.
Barely 30 seconds had elapsed in the opening round when Sharma attempted to catch one of her opponent’s kicks and take her down. She couldn’t complete it but was able to press Oliveira up against the cage and land some gentle knees to the thigh area.
It took more than two minutes but Sharma finally got the takedown. She was able to stay in top position for the remainder of the round to take a lead on the scorecards without doing any real damage.
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Similar pattern
The second round followed a similar pattern with Sharma catching a kick and then pressing Oliveira against the cage. With two minutes remaining she got the takedown and once again the round finished with the Brazilian on her back.
Her opponent has barely landed a single strike at this stage and Sharma went into the final round knowing she had won the first two. There was no need for the Indian to take any risks so she didn’t.
Oliveira landed her first meaningful strike of the fight early in the third round and it was a good one. A right hand stopped Sharma in her tracks but the Indian recovered quickly.
Sharma responded by charging forwards and pressing Oliveira up against the cage, effectively neutralizing her striking. This time the referee decided to separate the strawweights, presumably hoping to see more action.
He didn’t get it with Sharma once again pressing Oliveira up against the cage before taking her down and landing in side control. She remained the end of the round to take a clear cut decision win.
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Pole position
With the victory Sharma improves her record to 5-1. Her opponent drops to 7-2 after tasting defeat for just the second time in her career and sees her two fight winning streak snapped.
Last week Puja Tomar signed with the UFC. She is 8-4 and Sharma might feel her record is more impressive although she has yet to capture a title.
Should Sharma decide to go back to fighting in India she would surely be in pole position for a shot at the Matrix Fight Night strawweight title which Tomar vacated in order to sign with the UFC. But the 32 year old’s career in Brazil is going so well she might decide to continue competing there.
