Chelsea Chandler walked into Rogers Place as a big underdog and walked out with a first-round submission. She tapped Melissa Croden with a kimura at 4:52 of Round 1 on Saturday at UFC Fight Night 291 in Edmonton, Alberta. That’s eight seconds left on the clock. MMA Fighting posted the result moments after the tap, and the official replay hit the UFC’s Paramount+ account shortly after.
The numbers on this one are what make it sting for anybody holding a Croden ticket. MMA Junkie reported, via Yahoo Sports, that Croden closed as a favorite of as much as 4-1. At that price the market was giving Chandler something like a one-in-five shot. Folks who laid the chalk were probably already reaching for the card for Round 2 when the arm got bent the wrong way.
How it went down
The fight was ugly in the good sense. According to MMA Junkie’s recap, the two traded on the feet, worked through clinch exchanges and then took it to the mat, where Chandler opened a cut on Croden before isolating the arm. MMA Fighting called it a grueling round, which tracks with how the scramble looked. The kimura came late and it came hard. The UFC’s own YouTube short of the finish was titled “Chelsea Chandler heard it POP!” so make of that what you will. The promotion’s broadcast account summed up the mood with “CHELSEA CHANDLER OUT OF NOWHERE.”
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It wasn’t even the only kimura of the evening. SuYoung You also submitted Cody Chovancek with one at 4:19 of Round 3, which gives Edmonton two late-round shoulder locks on the same card. Somebody in the back must have been passing out a coupon.
The callout
The 32-year-old Chandler credited her camp work when she talked with Paul Felder in the Octagon, and then she picked her next target without any hedging.
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“I’m so happy,” Chandler said. “I’ve trained and trained and it’s paying off. ... Santos, I’m coming motherf*cker.”
That would be Luana Santos, and as of Saturday night there’s no word from the UFC or from Santos’s side on whether that matchup is anything more than a post-fight wish. Treat it as a callout until somebody books it.
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Quick take
I’ve said for years that the 4-1 favorite in a three-round women’s bantamweight scrap is a trap more often than people want to admit, because the division’s grappling exchanges get chaotic and one bad scramble turns a points lead into a tap. Chandler made that exact case with eight seconds to spare. Croden may well have been winning that round on the cards. It didn’t matter. If you were the one who grabbed the plus money, go buy yourself a steak, and then go back and check how many favorites you stacked into that parlay of yours. Chandler wants Santos next. The UFC hasn’t said a word about it yet.
