Ewa Beach’s Kailin Curran became the first Hawaii-born female fighter to compete in the UFC on Saturday night, losing to Paige VanZant by TKO (strikes) in the third round of a strawweight bout at UFC Fight Night in Austin, Texas.

Curran (3-1, 0-1 UFC) was behind 20-18 on all three judges’ scorecards heading into the third round when she succumbed to a series of punches that forced the referee to stop the bout at 2 minutes, 54 seconds.

"I knew she was a really tough fighter and I knew one of us was going to land the first punch and I wanted to go for it and was able to do it," said VanZant (4-1, 1-0). "I watched all of her fights and knew what to expect. I trained with my coach really hard and was able to work on all of the same positions that she was going to try to get me in and it worked out. I was really prepared."

Curran scored five different takedowns in the fight but couldn’t keep VanZant on the canvas. The end came when VanZant tripped Curran and kept her down.