Aisling Daly returned to her roots to get a first round submission win in her UFC debut last night, though her victory was overshadowed by missing the weight limit beforehand.

The Dubliner missed the contracted weight limit of 115lbs – there is a one pound tolerance - at the previous day's weigh-in coming in at 118lbs. Unfortunately, regardless of how impressive the victory was there'll always be a footnote to the win.

Making weight is often the tougher aspect of being an MMA fighter. Many fighters have said the real fight is with the scales the day before the actual fight in the Octagon. When quizzed about missing weight Daly was fully aware of where the issues lay.

Part of Daly's new job description as a fighter required her to be flown around the U.S. and Europe on a media tour to promote the UFC’s reality show, The Ultimate Fighter. Daly probably wasn't as disciplined in her diet as normal when grounded at her SBG gym.

As one of the bigger female straw-weight fighters, weight cutting is always going to be hard. However in her 21 previous visits to the scale Daly always came in under the number. While most of those were at 125lbs, weight cutting is a very achievable, repeatable process. The fact that Daly missed weight is a blemish rather than a catastrophe. More than anyone else, Daly will be keen to get back to action to prove she can make the weight and continue winning.

The fight itself was all Aisling Daly. She pressured her Australian opponent, Alex Chambers, from the get go and looked to take the fight to the mat once she closed the distance.

Early in the first round we got a glimpse of the finish as Aisling worked to set up an armbar submission after Chambers had secured a takedown. Once back to their feet though, Daly landed a takedown of her own with under a minute remaining in the first round.

Understanding how debilitating a hard weight cut can be, the instructions from corner came with a sense of urgency. Aisling's chief second, UFC flyweight Paddy Holohan, was telling her 'we can finish it here' as she worked towards another armbar. The end duly came and Irish MMA has another elite UFC fighter.

In post-fight interviews Daly commented she still felt wretched from the efforts of the failed weight cut. Knowing her Brazilian Jiu Jitsu would be better than Chambers, her game plan was to take the fight to the floor and use the efficiency of 'the gentle art', as BJJ is known, to conserve energy and try and secure a submission victory.

Having debuted in 2007 and amassed over 20 professional fights, Daly has achieved her life's dream of competing in the UFC. At only 26 her debut UFC win has shown she may have a long MMA career ahead of her still in the upper echelons of the UFC.

Online Editors