UFC 229: Yana Kunitskaya vs Lina Lansberg- Kunitskaya marks her first win in the UFC following an impressive split decision victory

What's the story?

In her first fight as a UFC Bantamweight, Russian upstart Yana Kunitskaya used her raw strength and power to finish-off her UFC 229 opponent Lina Lansberg, closing out the UFC Fight Pass Prelims in style.

In case you didn't know...

Yana Kunitskaya made her Professional MMA debut in the year 2009 at a K-1 World Grand Prix event in Poland, defeating Magdalena Jarecka by TKO in the first round. After finishing off her early Pro MMA career in Russia, Yana finally signed with Invicta FC and eventually defeated Tony Evinger for the Invicta FC Bantamweight title on November 18, 2016, however, on the 1st of November, Kunitskaya's win was eventually overturned to a no contest, resulting in Evinger retaining her title in the process.

Kunitskaya and Evinger once again collided in a rematch at Invicta FC 22, but on this occasion, the Russian eventually lost by second-round submission. However, later that very same year, at Invicta FC 25, Kunitskaya defeated Raquel Pa'aluhi to win the vacant Invicta FC Bantamweight Championship.

Kunitskaya made her UFC debut at UFC 222 in March of 2018 against the ferocious Cris Cyborg for the UFC Women's Featherweight Title and despite losing the fight via TKO in the first round, Kunitskaya headed into UFC 229 looking for an apparent fresh start in the promotion.

The heart of the matter

In her UFC Bantamweight debut, Yana Kunitskaya made sure that she earned a clinical decision win over Lina Lansberg in what was the final bout of the UFC Fight Pass Preliminary Card.

Lansberg, despite being the aggressor in the early stages of the fight, couldn't handle the hard-hitting clinical strikes throughout the entirety of the three five-minute rounds, as Yana Kunitskaya eventually finished the fight via a final judges scorecard of 30-27 on all three cards.

What's next?

With Yana Kunitskaya scoring her first win in the UFC, the Russian will now look forward to building her legacy in the promotion, by facing-off and eventually defeating some of the most notable faces in the MMA business.

The future looks definitely brighter than ever for the former Invicta FC Bantamweight Champion and as of this writing, it remains to be seen who her next opponent in the UFC turns out to be.