The Blonde Bomber”Ebanie Bridgessteadied her comeback with a six-round points win over Ebonie Cotton on April 18, taking a unanimous decision in a bantamweight fight at Rainton Meadows Arena in Houghton-le-Spring. The bout was scheduled at the 118-pound bantamweight limit, and the official scorecards at 59-56 in Bridges’ favour.
The fight carried extra weight for Bridges because she had entered the ring off a loss to Alexis Araiza Mones in Puerto Rico on January 3, her first outing after a long break from competition. Before facing Cotton, Bridges had publicly framed the contest as a key test of whether her push back toward title level still had life.
Cotton was fast and busy early, opening with hooks and jabs and looking to unsettle the former IBF women’s bantamweight champion from the start.Bridgessettled into the fight with cleaner right hands, and coverage of the bout said she began to land the more meaningful shots as the rounds moved on.
The middle rounds turned into a close-range contest, with both women standing in the pocket and trading, and one report noted that Bridges was wrestled to the canvas during an exchange. Cotton’s energy and output kept her in the fight, but the scoring appeared to favour Bridges’ accuracy and the cleaner impact of her punches.
Ebanie Bridges nabídla společně se soupeřkou další hodně pikantní vážení. Bridges vs Cotton 18.4. 💥pic.twitter.com/tYLaKSPHuj
“This is who I fight for now… our son Ezerra Ray. My why. My heart. My everything. On the hard days, he’s the reason I keep going. I didn’t give up on my dreams when I became a mum—he gave them more meaning. More fire. More purpose. I do this to show him what hard work, resilience, and believing in yourself can do. To show him you don’t stop chasing your goals… you chase them even harder. I’ll always lead by example. For him.”
By the later rounds, the contest had become a hard six-round test rather than a routine comeback win. The final 59-56 score suggests Bridges did enough to edge several rounds without fully dominating the action, it was a competitive, physical outing.
For Bridges, the win matters because it stops the slide after her January defeat and gives her a needed result in her first victory since 2022. Cotton, meanwhile, came in as a far less experienced pro, with listings as only her fourth professional bout. Even in defeat, she appears to have given Bridges enough resistance to make the former world champion work the full six rounds.
A post shared by Blonde Bomber 💣🇦🇺 (@ebanie_bridges)
The fight drew extra attention because of the weigh-in build-up, but the result itself was straightforward:Bridgesgot the decision, ended immediate talk of a skid, and left Sunderland with a result she badly needed.
Source: LowKickMMA.com
