Making her UFC debut, Julija Stoliarenko had little to show after three rounds with Yana Kunitskaya. The UFC women's bantamweight division's eight ranked contender dominated the newcomer for three rounds and cruised to a unanimous decision victory with judges scores of 30-26, 30-27 and 30-27.
Kunitskaya smothered Stoliarenko for all three rounds, pressing her opponent against the cage while mixing in strikes, knees and the occasional takedown. Stoliarenko did try a few submission attempts, and was even close to locking in an arm bar at the end of the second, but Kunitskaya was able to fend them off and each time she went right back into the clinch, where she dirty boxed (and kneed) her way to victory.
In the end, Kunitskaya had double-digit minutes of control time over Stoliarenko and set a record for biggest total strike differential in women's bantamenweight history. Kunitskaya had a total of 209 strikes versus Stoliarenko's 30, a difference of 179 total strikes.
The impressive victory puts Kunitskaya (13-5-1) back in the win column as she looks to climb the ranks once again. She had previously lost to Aspen Ladd by TKO in December 2019. The former women's featherweight title challenger has now won three of her most recent four fights dating back to October 2018.