UFC Strawweight Fatima Kline chose a great way to celebrate her 25th birthday with a highlight-reel Ko.
UFC Nashville contained a heavyweight headliner between Knock -out King Derrick Lewis and charging competition Tallison Teixeira. But hours before the main event, the knockouts came early on the prelims in the first fight of the night.
Straw weights Fatima Kline and Melissa Martinez kicked things on Saturday at the UFC Nashville Prelims. Kline, considered one of the best female prospects in MMA, looked at her momentum after a nasty finish about Victoria Dudakova for her first UFC victory in January.
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Fatima Kline is celebrating the 25th birthday with Head Kick Ko to kick UFC Nashville
When the fight began, it was one -way traffic for Cline against Martinez. She doubled Martinez in important strikes (32-19 in round 1) and frustrated her opponent with her reach and cunning combinations.
Kline's Lead Left Hak and Jab Zanged Martinez in the early minutes. Although Martinez had a better round 2, which filled several Kline Takedown attempts, it was Cline that landed the more harmful strokes to take an important lead over the scorecards.
But Kline was not satisfied with unpacking a decision gain on her 25th birthday. Halfway through the round 3, Kline threw a right hand followed by a left head that collapsed Martinez to the canvas.
View the Wild Knockout from Kline below.
Fatima Kline starts #ufcnashville with a headkick ko 🔥🤯
pic.twitter.com/ndfu9liuxc
– Judgment (@verdictmma) July 12, 2025
Kline's Knock -Out was her second TKO/Ko -finish of her UFC official period, after he had completed Dudakova with elbows earlier this year. She has been neatly reflected since a UFC debut loss for Jasmine Jasudavicius last year.
Melissa Martinez, the sister of colleague UFC hunter David Martinez, has now lost two of the three UFC performances.
Tom Aspinall closely monitors the headliner of the UFC Nashville
While Lewis and Teixeira are going to fight on Saturday evening, UFC Heavyweight Champion Tom Aspinall is his return to the Octagon for later this year. At the moment, an opponent has not been announced for the first undisputed title defense of Aspinall, which means that Lewis or Teixeira could shoot the heavyweight title photo.
Former UFC-Welterweight title Challenger Stephen Thompson returns to the UFC Nashville Co-Main event against Gabriel Bonfim. The card also has the pension fight for Lauren Murphy in a women's fly weight matchup.
Follow here at Bloody Elbow for the latest newest of UFC Nashville.