LAS VEGAS — Yazmin Jauregui nearly blew the roof off the T-Mobile Arena when she entered the Octagon for her Saturday fight with Denise Gomes at UFC 290. The heavily pro-Mexican crowd was vehemently supporting Jauregui, a 10-0 Mexican strawweight from Tijuana.
But as quickly as it started, it was over and the crowd watched in stunned silence during the UFC 290 preliminary card.
Jauregui bounced out of her corner to be met by a crisp right cross from Gomes. It stunned her, but she didn’t have time to get to safety and reset. Gomes followed immediately with an overhand right that dropped Jauregui to one knee.
Jauregui staggered into a corner against the fence, with Gomes in pursuit. Gomes fired several punches at Jauregui until referee Jason Herzog had seen enough and jumped in to stop him just 20 seconds away.
“A lot of people underestimated me,” said Gomes, who improved to 7-2 with the knockout. She lost her professional debut but has now picked up seven wins in her last eight outings. “…We knew we were going to win.
Jauregui was 2-0 in the UFC and had gained some momentum with impressive performances against Iasmin Lucindo and Istela Nunes.
She was a solid 4-1 favorite on Saturday, but couldn’t recover from the first straight to the chin.
“I didn’t know when it was going to happen but I knew I was going to hurt her and come out with a win,” Gomes said.