Some trash-talk preceded the fight between Zoila Frausto and Daniela Graf. The two were due to fight at GLORY 30 LOS ANGELES last year as part of the Women's Super-Bantamweight Grand Prix, but Frausto pulled out on two days' notice, citing injury.
In pre-fight interviews for this GLORY 37 encounter Graf cast doubt on Frausto's injured status last year. She accused the Californian of being “unprofessional” and “not a real fighter”, words which will inflame any combatant.
The result was a first round of feeling-out followed by two rounds of toe-to-toe war in which the two went at each other mercilessly. Heavy punching exchanges were interspersed with hard kicks to the thigh and body.
Things were relatively even in the second round. In the third round defense became something of an afterthought, especially for Graf. She found herself walking onto heavy blows repeatedly and although she fired back with a will, Frausto was landing the better blows.
It went the distance but was a crowd-pleasing war throughout. A good number of fans in attendance were no doubt hoping for an extra round but the judges felt they had seen enough to declare a definitive winner. Two had Frausto the winner of all three rounds, the other gave a round to Graf.
Frausto's GLORY debut could not have gone much better. The rest of the women's Super-Bantamweight division will have taken notice.
Zoila Frausto (5-0-0) def. Daniela Graf (25-8-1), Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
