Gillian Robertson emerged victorious last weekend with yet another submission win as she defeated Piera Rodriguez with a second round armbar at UFC Kansas City during the prelims. However, the win was not met without a degree of dispute as Rodriguez protested against her loss, affirming that she did not tap out.

While replaying the fight did not prove conclusive, the official result had already been provided as “verbal submission.” As such, Robertson is convinced that there should be no cause for controversy.

“I have seen the fight and the referee declared it as a verbal submission. His call stands. I could not see her face or hear her utterances. All I wanted was for the referee to halt the fight. Her tap was inconsequential. At that point, I had dominated the fight, and I had won the first round by points. I could have secured another point in the second round if it had continued. Therefore, even if she knocked me out in the third round, she would not have won the fight,”

Despite the controversy, Robertson’s victory comes with its benefits. She earned two firsts inside the UFC as she was awarded her first Performance of the Night bonus and her first win as a UFC strawweight. While Robertson had exclusively competed as a flyweight to a great level of success since joining the UFC in 2017, she has decided to make a serious effort at winning the UFC title.

Robertson revealed that she has walked under 130 pounds in her last five fights, leading the UFC Performance Institute to conduct a bone density scan on her that indicated she would fit better in the strawweight division.

“I walked into the PI and they told me that I was too small for the flyweight division. The nutritionist and I worked on it and found that the cut to 115 pounds was nearly as easy as it was to 125 pounds. We added a lot of cardio workouts and sauna exercises throughout my training camp, which led to me weighing 117 pounds about two days before the competition. The cut was extremely easy,” Robertson said.

Robertson is convinced that she is better suited for the strawweight division after winning her first fight as a strawweight against Rodriguez, and she intends to stay there for the long haul. She acknowledges that it is arguably the best division in women’s MMA, but she is prepared to face anybody among the top 15 fighters in the weighing class.