Lauren Taylor came in undefeated but was pushed to the limit by Sarah D’Alelio. Both fighters engaged in a three round war of attrition that saw Taylor keep her record unblemished with a unanimous decision victory with scores of 30-27, 29-28, and 29-28.
Sarah D’Alelio worked her jab early, and mixed up her strikes effectively as Lauren Taylor showed more patience in her own attack to start. Taylor closed and eventually worked D’Alelio to the mat, but got reversed as D’Alelio scrambled. D’Alelio took the back of Taylor, working very high and nearly cinching up a triangle from that position. Taylor ended up giving up an arm but rolled out of trouble, getting back to her feet quickly. Taylor got another late takedown and D’Alelio again threatened, isolating an arm of Taylor, but the bell would sound on the first round.
D’Alelio again kept her offense unpredictable throwing a series of unorthodox strikes. Taylor flicked out her jab but failed to follow up with any combinations as D’Alelio fired back with counters. After a low blow halted the action, Taylor started to string together some offense. Taylor landed her best shot of the fight, stopping the forward progress of D’Alelio with a stiff left hook. Taylor kept throwing, then put D’Alelio on the cage looking for the takedown. Taylor kept working, missing on a single, but eventually earning a double leg takedown with just under a minute to go in the round. D’Alelio scrambled back to her feet, but it was Taylor that got the best of the exchanges to close the round.
D’Alelio pressed forward to start the final round, initiating the early exchanges. Taylor landed a powerful one-two combo, but D’Alelio fired back with a big left hook on the counter. As they continued to exchange it was D’Alelio that was the busier fighter as the final frame wore on. A big flurry from both fighters capped off an exciting bout that would go to the cards.
When the cards came back, it would be Lauren Taylor (7-0 MMA, 2-0 IFC) that was awarded the unanimous decision victory with scores of 30-27, 29-28, and 29-28.