New Zealand’s Daniel Hooker made the trek to Houston, Texas this weekend to headline the Preliminary fights at UFC 192 against Yair Rodriguez (3-0 UFC). Hooker came into the fight looking for his third UFC victory after an impressive finish in his last fight against Hatus Hioki in Adelaide, in May this year, which earned him a performance of the night bonus.
The first round opened with each fighter feeling the other out before Rodriguez upped the tempo, throwing out leg kicks and spinning head kicks that set the pace of the fight and kept Hooker on the back foot. Despite attempting numerous takedowns Hooker found himself on the end of a failed guillotine choke before being thrown to canvas. It was a solid first-round from Rodriguez who cemented it with heavy strikes.
The second round saw Rodriguez continue with his unorthodox onslaught on Hooker bringing out spinning back elbows and rolling kicks. Despite being rattled Hooker continued to put pressure on Rodriguez attempting to go on the front foot where he closed the distance and secured a couple of takedowns. However the lack of anything significantly landing resulted in another round going the way of Rodriguez.
Hooker came out all guns blazing in the final round however it would not be enough to secure a win over Rodriguez who despite being on his back for a majority of the round, was able to open up Hooker with sharp elbows as both looked to finish strong.
Ultimately, the unanimous decision would go the way of Rodriguez who won 30-27, 30-27 and 30-26 on the judges cards.
It would later be noted that Rodriguez broke his foot in the opening round making the victory all the more impressive.
In the main event of the night, Daniel Cormier won a close split points decision over Alexander Gustafsson to reclaim his UFC light-heavyweight title.
Main Card (Main Event PPV):
- Daniel Cormier def. Alexander Gustafsson via Decision (Split) – UFC light-heavyweight title
- Ryan Bader def. Rashad Evans via Decision (Unanimous)
- Ruslan Magomedov def. Shawn Jordan via Decision (Unanimous)
- Joseph Benavidez def. Ali Bagautinov via Decision (Unanimous)
- Julianna Pena def. Jessica Eye via Decision (Unanimous)
Preliminary Card (Fox Sports):
- Yair Rodriguez def. Daniel Hooker via Decision (Unanimous)
- Albert Tumenov def. Alan Jouban via TKO (Punch), Rd 1, 2:55
- Adriano Martins def. Islam Makhachev via KO (Punch), Rd 1, 1:46
- Rose Namajunas def. Angela Hill via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 1, 2:47choke) – Round 1, 2:47
Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass):
- Sage Northcutt def. Francisco Trevino via TKO (Strikes), Rd 1, 0:57 – Round 1, 0:57
- Sergio Pettis def. Chris Cariaso via Decision (Unanimous)
- Derrick Lewis def. Viktor Pesta via TKO (Punches), Rd 3, 1:15
