By Jake Smith
IMMAF 2019 European Gold Medalist Viktoryia Dudakova continued her perfect form as a professional mixed martial artist moving to 5-0-0 and collecting her first professional title at Open Fighting Championship 12.
Since competing in the professional ranks, Dudakova has adapted her game exceptionally and displayed a tremendous ground game accompanied with a fierce grappling prowess, securing four of her five victories by way of submission.
In her Grand Prix Final against Marina Shutova, the 22-year-old’s forward pressure and slick takedowns were on display once again. Dudakova took the centre of the cage from the first bell and it took only 30 seconds for her to land a clean double leg takedown, sending the bout to the mat.
She quickly established a dominant position but was unable to advance her position any further. The two ended up back on their feet for a matter of seconds before Dudakova landed a trip and took the bout straight back to the floor where she again looked to assert her dominance on the ground.
However, Shutova closed her guard, nullifying Dudakova’s ground game until the referee decided to stand them back up. This was followed by another takedown attempt from Dudakova which ultimately led to Shutova establishing the more dominant position. Unphased, Dudakova showed she was as calm and collected defending as she was attacking and managed to work her way comfortably to her feet.
The opening 60 seconds of the second round were the total opposite to the first, with both women opting to stand and strike.
Dudakova quickly resorted back to gameplan in which she had much success in the opening stanza and looked to establish another takedown. Although not securing a clean take down, the forward pressure forced Shutova up against the cage from where Dudakova instantly started looking for an opening to take the back. The two tussled for cage position before Dudakova once again got the bout to the mat.
Once back to her feet, Shutova attempted to herself from the cage wall but gave her back in the process which led to Dudakova quickly locked in a standing rear naked choke and got the tap.
Following her convincing victory, Dudakova took to the mic to thank her team and wish her team mate well in the upcoming IMMAF World Championships, she said:
“I don’t want to hold you for too long. I just need to thank my large team for helping me (coach, doctors, sparring partners). Also I want to thank my friend Asaf who’s preparing to participate in IMMAF’s World Championships in January. Thank you all. This victory is ours!”
The Open Fighting Championship platform has given Dudakova a great opportunity to establish herself on the professional scene as there are few organisations that regularly feature women in Russia. Due to the difficulty of finding regular opponents, the next logical step for Dudakova could well be a call up from a major global promotion such as the UFC or Bellator.
