UFC Stockholm results: Lina Lansberg out-grapples Tonya Evinger for dominant decision win

MMAfighting.com

Lina Lansberg beat Tonya Evinger at her own game.

The two bantamweights faced off on the preliminary portion of UFC Stockholm on Saturday at Ericsson Globe, and it was Lansberg (9-4) who won the grappling and ground battle en route to taking a unanimous decision with a pair of 30-26 scores and a 30-27.

Afterwards, an emotional Lansberg, who hails from Sweden, spoke about how important the victory was to her.

“This is better than winning the world championship,” Lansberg said. “This is my home. It really means the world to me to be here, thank you so much everybody.”

Lansberg rebounded from a decision loss to Yana Kunitskaya at UFC 229 last October and has now alternated wins and losses in her last seven outings.

As expected, it was Evinger who pressured right away, muscling Lansberg against the fence in the opening minutes of round one. Lansberg changed the conversation with an elbow that sliced Evinger’s forehead and then proceeded to put Evinger on her back.

UFC Canada✔@UFC_CA

The Elbow Queen!@LinaLansberg living up to her name #UFCStockholm 14 12:22 AM – Jun 2, 2019 See UFC Canada’s other Tweets Twitter Ads info and privacy

On the mat, Lansberg closed out the round strong with ground-and-pound.

UFC✔@ufc

That’s how you end a round!

WOW! #UFCStockholm 326 12:20 AM – Jun 2, 2019 95 people are talking about this Twitter Ads info and privacy

Evinger, who owns seven career wins by submission along with several ground-and-pound wins of her own, stuck with her strategy and scored the first takedown of round two. She maneuvered herself to Lansberg’s back, looking to control Lansberg’s arm and wrist, but Lansberg was able to shake Evinger off. Pinned against the cage, there was little Evinger could do but focus on defending against Lansberg’s ground punches.

The third round was more of the same as Lansberg again took control in top position and did damage from there to secure the victory.

“I would like a rematch with Aspen Ladd,” Lansberg said in her post-fight interview. “That was a really fast stoppage. And I really think I’m worthy to fight her again.”

For Evinger, this was her third straight loss since signing joining the UFC back in July 2017. The former Invicta FC champion saw her overall record fall to 19-8 (1 NC).