UFC Rio video: Bia Mesquita dominates Irina Alekseeva before ending fight with nasty rear-naked choke

Bia Mesquita made quite an impression for her octagon debut after choking out Irina Alekseeva for a lopsided win at UFC Rio.

The multi-time grappling champion stuck to her best weapon with Mesquita taking Alekseeva to the canvas multiple times and nearly getting an early finish after dropping some truly vicious elbows on the ground. Ultimately, Mesquita just took what Alekseeva gave her after latching onto her back and locking on a fight-ending rear-naked choke at 2:14 in the second round to get the win.

“It could not be better to be here in Brazil,” Mesquita said after her win. “I have the best coach by my side. I know it could not be different than that. Come in here and show what I’m ready for and why I’m the Lady GOAT. I want to stay active as much as possible. This is the Lady GOAT mentality. I’m here to stay.”

Despite her best efforts, Alekseeva was playing defense from the jump just trying to fend off the aggression and grappling coming at her from Mesquita. While Alekseeva was able to catch Mesquita coming forward to close the distance, she soon found herself body locked and tossed to the ground.

From there, Mesquita almost immediately moved into the mount where she began raining down a vicious series of punches and elbows with more than two minutes left in the opening frame.

Mesquita continued her assault, methodically trapping an arm and then dropping even more elbows with Alekseeva just trying to avoid the damage. The offensive onslaught didn’t slow down but Alekseeva did enough to prevent a stoppage before time expired.

On the restart, Mesquita wasted no time putting Alekseeva back on the canvas again and she started slicing through her opponent’s defense again. Rather than getting mounted this time, Alekseeva gave up her back and that opened up the submissions with Mesquita slipped her arm under the neck and then locked up the rear naked choke.

A moment later, Alekseeva tapped and Mesquita moved to 6-0 in her MMA career while adding yet another submission to her resume.

At 34, Mesquita is getting a late start in the UFC but in a bantamweight division desperate for new talent, she’s certainly one to watch as she moves forward with her career.