Friday 27 April 2012

Jessica Penne vs Lisa Ellis-Ward Preview

Recent History


While Lisa Ellis-Ward has lost her last two fights, those losses were to two of the biggest names in the lower weight classes, Megumi Fujii and Jessica Aguilar.  For this fight, Ellis-Ward drops down to 105 lbs.  Jessica Penne is fighting for the first time since the end of 2010, for which she blames the trickiness of finding appropriate opponents in her weight class.  That fight was a submission victory over Amy Davis.

via womentalksports

Head to Head


Ellis-Ward is an accomplished grappler with a decent record of 10 submissions from 14 victories.  She is well rounded and experienced, but will use her solid wrestling to control the fight if she is losing a stand up battle.  She was strong at 115lb and depending on how well she has handled the weight cut, she could come into this fight an absolute beast or seriously depleted.  Below is a video of her demolition of Stephanie Frausto which highlights her strength, aggression and submission acumen.



Jessica Penne is relatively unknown although she has fought a few times in Bellator and has a notable win over Sally Krumdiack. She is a very well rounded fighter; her record boasts 5 submission wins in 9 fights and she recently won a kickboxing bout against top Japanese fighter Rena (video below).



With both fighters dropping down in weight for this fight, the outcome might have a lot to do with who handles the weight cut the best.  Ellis-Ward certainly has the experience edge and has been in the cage with some of the best in the sport.  I see the fight being a hectic affair that spans striking, wrestling and ground fighting, with Ellis-Ward's experience and superior strength and wrestling helping her dictate where she wants the fight to be.

Prediction


It will be back and forth, but Ellis-Ward by unanimous decision.

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