UFC 261 is the first UFC event since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic to host a sold-out crowd. The fans couldn’t have asked for a better start to the night than the opening preliminary bout between Ariane Carnelossi and Liang Na. The women’s strawweight bout saw wild action swinging both ways through an intense opening round, but Carnelossi was able to survive some early scares to score a TKO victory early in Round 2 at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.

Na cracked Carnelossi with a right hand just seconds into the fight, dropping her to the canvas. Carnelossi quickly scrambled back to her feet and the two women exchanged wildly in the clinch. Na was able to take the fight to the floor to try to slow the action down, but there was no sustained break to be had.

Carnelossi got the better of the exchanges on the feet, but Na was willing to absorb the shots, landing her own and forcing the fight back to the floor where she attempted to use her grappling and ground-and-pound skills to take over the fight. Carnelossi was also the victim of a vicious slam from Na, only to turn the tables after defending an armbar, ending up in top position.

Momentum continued to swing with the women trading positions and submission attempts before the opening round ended with Carnelossi looking to lock in a triangle choke before the horn.

“It was a little bit of a troubled start, but that’s the thing – everybody is so excited to be here,” Carnelossi said after the fight. “I’m extremely excited because I’ve been out for a year and a half, so this is the first time to get a bunch of stuff out of my chest.”

In Round 2, Carnelossi survived a head and arm throw and some ground and pound to reverse position and end up on top position, dropping big shots as Na covered up. The referee finally called a halt to the fight at the 1:28 mark of the second round.

“We were able to find most of her fights and that’s something that she always does — she just goes after people straight away, that’s why I got caught by the punch as well, because she’s always going after them to take them down and the punch came out of nowhere, so that wobbled me a little bit, but I’m fine and everything is good,” Carnelossi said.