Karen Gillan vs. Kate Upton
(Results: Lookout. Words: Wiz)

BEFORE:

Rematch of a classic from December between, no doubt, two of the top welters in the FCBA. For the redhead's part, she's managed to pull the very difficult trick of breaking into the tightly guarded welter elite, while Kate, even if she has to take a back seat to Amanda Righetti as the top welter in the organization is arguably the organization's biggest star, one who's claimed the lineal belts four times, the JMDD title three times, and the Ice Hotel and is, no doubt, quite capable of a "career grand slam" with the new beach title soon to come on the scene. But, as highly decorated as Kate is, one thing she's never done is beat Karen Gillan, because, when the two met at the Taylor Swift Birthday Bash, the redhead stopped the blonde in the eighth. And, Kate has not forgotten. "She's MINE," says a hard-eyed Upton. "She got lucky ONCE. It won't happen again."

"Luck had nothing to do with it," says Karen with a smile. "Nothing. The reason I beat Kate is that I'm BETTER. And I'll prove that again tonight."

ROUND ONE:

Yeah, Karen's not proving anything on Kate's watch. Gillan makes with the long poke early, wants to use the reach, keep the blonde at range. Not. Gonna. Happen. Upton is forward behind the jab, willing to take a punch to give one. Gets to work body on the inside, goes upstairs, then right back down, levering, shouldering, using the forearm to get the redhead off balance. It's very, very physical stuff from the blonde, who's got the redhead ALL out of sorts early. Karen's spending way too much time backing and covering, trying to solidify her front. But, Kate's not having it. She's continuing the offensive, sitting down on punches, roughing up the redhead right to the bell. When it rings, there's no question that the points go to Upton, who's not only grabbed the 10-9 lead, but imposed will.

ROUND TWO:

Upton in control here. It's clear the blonde's spent some time in the video room looking at what worked and didn't work for her back in December, and she's put together an excellent fight plan here. She's cutting the ring on Gillan, pressing her, taking away her advantages in reach and mobility, and, instead, playing to Kate's own strengths, power and physicality. For Karen's part, she's working hard to get back on favorable terms, but she can't do it. She can't enforce range, can't keep Kate off, can't slow down her offensive. Instead, Upton's getting what she wants, and not some of the time, ALL of the time. Gillan scores here and there, but that's all she manages to do. Well. That and stay on her feet despite the hard shot Kate's landing. At the bell, it's again, not close. Kate takes the round and the 20-18 lead.

ROUND THREE:

More Upton. She's got everything working right now, and, when that happens, even a fighter as good as Gillan is in deep, deep trouble. And, Karen clearly is. Just like in the first two rounds, the redhead's mostly backing and covering as she makes efforts to slow down the blonde...vain efforts. Instead, Kate keeps cutting the ring, getting in Karen's grill, getting physical with her, taking her out of what she wants to do. There's plenty of body work happening here, with Upton hooking the flanks and banging the tummy, but most of the points are coming upstairs, as the blonde lands some serious shot, and, to her credit, the redhead ships it and stays afloat. But, again, that and the odd flurry are about all Karen can manage, and, when the bell rings, Kate's gotten her third straight wide to lead 30-27.

ROUND FOUR:

Karen still lacking answers. Kate working forward, backing the redhead up, controlling the fight as she has from the opening bell of the first ro...BOOM! Right hand, GILLAN and KATE IS HURT! Karen keyholes a right hand counter and the blonde is all wobbly-butt! And NOW the redhead begins calling in the heavy artillery, hammering away at the blonde, backing her into the ropes and then absolutely BATTERING her. Karen works some body, trying to bring that guard down, then goes upstairs to wobble Upton AGAIN with a nasty right hook. Ref looking in closely, isn't going to watch much more of this. And, then Gillan GOES RACK! This ain't JMDD, but Karen doesn't care. She hammers away at jug, belly, ribs, then WHACKS a solid right hook to a crouching Kate's face at the bell. Upton plenty unsteady on her way back to the corner, but she's survived. For her part, Gillan's on the board, taking the stanza wide to cut the blonde's lead to 39-37.

ROUND FIVE:

Redhead dominant. Upton's legs still plenty unsteady, making her an easy target for Gillan, who uses the left jab to set up hard right hands, backing Kate up over and over again. Blonde trying to stay off the ropes, and manages at least that for a while, but, eventually, Karen forces her to the cables and we replay the last two-third of the fourth round, with Gillan teeing off on Kate as Upton hangs on in a tight guard on the ropes. Kate putting the body on sale, and Karen buys at times, but she's not investing as much as she did in the last round. Instead, she's trying to get the blonde out of there, and, while she continues to shake Kate at times and has the referee on high alert, for the second round in a row, Upton denies Gillan the finish. Karen, though, pitches a shutout and is within a point at 48-47 at the half.

ROUND SIX:

Gillan right back to work, backing up the blonde with hard shot, but, about a minute in, Kate begins firming up, solidifying her front, banging back. Several sharp exchanges result before Karen decides to disengage and get back to range. And, while Kate may have shaken the worst of the damage, she's still not in position to get back to the heavy pressure she was using in the first three rounds. Result is boxing at range. And, while Upton does fine on these terms, the range and mobility advantages Gillan enjoys give her the advantage, and she gets the better of things as a result, though Kate gets stronger as the round goes on. Still, at the bell, it's Karen who's done more for the third consecutive round, meaning that she's made up the entire stagger and evened the bout at 57 after six.

ROUND SEVEN:

Two-way stuff for, basically, the first time in the bout. Karen's moving laterally now, snapping that jab, looking to slow Kate as Upton comes forward behind the left, wanting to close and bang as she did at the beginning of the fight. Gillan doing a good job of keeping the range at times, and, when she can, she's pilling up points, while Kate's doing the same as she gets inside and gets physi...BOOM! Right hook, UPTON and DOWN GOES GILLAN! That quickly, the redhead is blown to her right side by an absolutely BRUTAL hook from Kate. Upton to a neutral corner as the ref counts down on Karen. No movement at ALL from Gillan. The redhead isn't just down, she's OUT and it's OVER! And your winner by KO7 in lightning strike fashion is Kate The Great Upton!

AFTER:

Upton plenty scuffed in the post-fight, but, there's no doubt that the blonde beauty's feeling good about getting revenge for her loss back in December. "Like I said," says Kate, picking up where she left off in the pre-fight, "She got lucky ONCE, but she wasn't going to get lucky again. I mean, I guess she's not a bad fighter or whatever, but, she's not in MY class. Then again, nobody is."