Port Moody fighter Julia (The Jewl) Budd once again defended her women’s featherweight title at the 224 Bellator mixed martial arts event in Thackerville, Okla., defeating Israeli fighter (Big Bad) Olga Rubin at 2:24 of the first round.
#AndStill! @JuliaBudd #Bellator224 pic.twitter.com/gXr8AZHzA9
— Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA) July 13, 2019
The fight ended when Budd landed a front kick to the body that dropped Rubin's guard. Budd followed with a flurry of punches to the head that sent Rubin to the mat. There, the Port Moody fighter immediately jumped on her opponent, continuing to land punches before the referee gave her a TKO finish.
Budd’s win was her fourth straight title victory and third defence. Now riding an 11-fight win streak, the 36-year-old from Port Moody, B.C., is already making her mark in mixed martial arts. Budd (13-2-0) has not lost in more than seven years.
The win Friday night ties Budd with flyweight champion Ilima-Lei Macfarlane of Hawaii for most consecutive successful title defences in Bellator MMA, a California-based subsidiary of media giant Viacom considered the second-biggest promoter of the sport, after the UFC.
Budd, who trains at Gibson MMA gym on Kyle Street in Port Moody, called out Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter Leslie Smith after the fight, also asking for a bout against the 100-pound-heavier Gabi Garcia at an upcoming Japanese mixed martial art event under the banner of the Rizin Fighting Federation, according to the mmajunkie.com.
"New Year's Eve in Tokyo? Hell yeah," Budd told mmajunkie.com backstage in a reference to the Rizin fight.
Budd had been a competitive kickboxer since 2001 when she was growing up on the Sunshine Coast.
After a break from the sport, she added wrestling and grappling to her combat repertoire and she began travelling to Port Moody to train from the University of British Columbia where she was studying.
“I jumped into the deep end,” she told The Tri-City News in May.
— With file from Mario Bartel and The Canadian Press
