By Fernando Gaztambide
In an exciting fight in her mixed martial arts debut, five division world champion Amanda Serrano (0-0-1) of Puerto Rico fought to a draw against Corina Herrera (3-4-1) of California.
The three judges scored 28-28 in a three-round, 125-pound fight from the Shrine Expo Hall in Los Angeles, California at an event promoted by Combate Americas.
In the first two rounds, Serrano would connect accurate shots to the body and face of Herrera, who seemed to get rocked on several occasions, but was always fighting back and in turn connected with occasional blows.
The third round was dominated by Herrera, who quickly knocked down the Puerto Rican and kept her on the ground where she was able to connect good punches and use her experience to control everything on the ground.
"We will continue working hard. I started well in the first two rounds, but we went with an experienced opponent who fought for more than a decade in the cage and used her experience well in the last round, but now we learn," said Amanda Serrano.
"I was able to get away from several [possible submissions] and it felt good, but there is work to be done. Corina had never been knocked out, nor had she ever lost by submission, she showed her caliber. The important thing is that in the end, everyone left happy for the big fight we did. "
"Now we go back to boxing, to look for the WBO 140-pound world title to be world champion in six weight divisions and then we go back to the cage because the Puerto Rican flag will shine in the ring and in the cage. Thanks to my Puerto Rican people for their support. I felt them in my heart."