Big Bad Blog Video Theater-Valerie Letourneau vs Elizabeth Phillips

Here is the match video of Valerie Letourneau vs Elizabeth Phillips from last night's UFC show in Vancouver. Both women deserve a lot of credit for stepping up on short notice. I thought the more experienced Valerie would pace herself better and outpoint Elizabeth. Elizabeth's only hope was to win by an early finish. And she almost did that. But then she quickly ran out of gas. Elizabeth came out quickly and won the first round. She landed some hard shots including an overhand right that damaged Valerie's left eye. I think she may have suffered a broken orbital bone. Elizabeth's corner kept telling her to go for a takedown. But Valerie defended well and there were no takedowns in this fight. By the end of round one, Elizabeth was already tired and Valerie's high kick to the head seemed to take a lot out of her. Though Valerie was never close to finishing Elizabeth, she did enough in round two and three to outpoint Elizabeth. I'd like to see what Elizabeth could do with a full training camp. We may have a diamond in the rough. She's pretty damn tough already. I scored the fight 29-28 for Valerie. The judges gave her a split decision. The win gets Valerie another UFC fight but I'm not sold on her yet. She is now training at America's Top Team in Florida. Maybe she's improved down there training with guys like Hector Lombard and Mike Brown who were in her corner. Her poor performance in the TUF18 qualifying match still nags at me. This win does not erase that. Enjoy the video!