Marion Reneau wasn't going to be beaten by a newcomer.
The 40-year-old got the better of both the striking and grappling exchanges with Talita Bernardo for nearly three rounds before taking control of her back and raining shots on her dome to earn a TKO victory as their bantamweight bout was winding down at Saturday's UFC Fight Night 115 in Rotterdam.
Bernardo worked to make it a jiu-jitsu match early with a well-timed takedown, but Reneau proved a more than worthy adversary, as the fighters traded submission attempts to highlight the first round - Bernardo threatening with a kneebar and Reneau with a triangle choke.
The bout wasn't nearly as evenly contested over the next two rounds, as Reneau kept it standing and teed off on a rapidly tiring Bernardo against the cage in the second, then made her pay for a takedown with triangle choke after triangle choke in the third. The Brazilian valiantly escaped the submissions, only for Reneau to move to back control and swing with near-reckless abandon until the referee waved it all off with just six seconds remaining.
Reneau improves to 4-2-1 in the UFC and rebounds from her majority draw with Bethe Correia at UFC Fight Night 106, while Bernardo sees a four-fight win streak snapped after filling in for an injured Germaine de Randamie on less than a week's notice.