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Ukraine fighter Maryna Moroz scored a victory via arm-triangle choke, then gave an emotional post-fight speech

Mar 6, 2022, 10:08 IST
Insider
Ukraine fighter Maryna Moroz wins her UFC match.Photos by Getty Images
  • Ukraine fighter Maryna Moroz won her UFC match Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
  • But behind the pay-per-view match was a fighter concerned about developments at home.
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LAS VEGAS — Ukraine fighter Maryna Moroz won her UFC 272 fight in style Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, and gave an emotional speech in the Octagon, and backstage, about events taking place in her home country.

Moroz was a crowd favorite from the start as she walked to the cage holding Ukraine's yellow and blue flag aloft. That fan support stayed with her throughout the contest, as she attempted takedown after takedown in the opening round.

The second round was similar to the first, in that Moroz asserted her authority on the fight with her expert grappling.

With the fight on the floor, an area Moroz could dominate, Moroz rained punches down on Agapova's face and eventually got her fight-ending submission locked in.

With an arm-triangle choke getting tighter, Moroz depleted what little fight Agapova had left in her, and so the Kazakh tapped midway through the round.

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By the end of the fight, Moroz had succeeded with two of her five takedown attempts, and landed 72 of her 86 strikes for a 69% accuracy rate.

Watch the awesome win right here:

But behind the statistics, and behind the fight-winning strategy that Moroz implemented, was a fighter concerned about developments in Europe.

Russia shelled multiple Ukraine cities since invading February 24,caused the civilian deaths of hundreds — if not thousands — of people since then, andseized Europe's biggest nuclear power plant Friday.

"If you know my country has war right now, and my family is in Ukraine," said Moroz in her post-fight victory speech.

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"I had a hard week. I worried. I cried because my family right now is in a bad situation," she said.

"Thank you for everyone who messaged me and supported me because this week was hard for me. I wanted to cry because of this war in my country. Thank you, everyone."

Watch it right here:

Moroz is concerned about the safety of her family in Ukraine

Maryna Moroz gave an emotional post-fight speech.Photo by Getty Images

At the post-fight press conference Insider attended, she added: "I'm nervous about my mother. I don't want Russian people to come and kill my family.

"Many of my friends die right now," said Moroz. "Russian army are killing. And I feel terrible. Every day I'm feel, thinking, somebody come and kill my family. I don't want. I want people to stop this. I want to save my family."

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With victory, Moroz advanced her pro MMA record to 11 wins (one knockout, six submissions, and four decisions) against three losses.

She has now won three fights in a row since coming unstuck in back-to-back fights four years ago.

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