For the first time in the company’s history, the UFC headed to Salt Lake City with a featherweight contest between Yair Rodriguez and Alex Caceres going down to the wire.
With both men producing dominant flurries, the fight was ultimately won by Rodriguez in a split decision (46-49, 48- 47, 48-47) on Sunday in the main event of UFC Fight Night 92.
The emergent Mexican star exploded out of the gates and performed a myriad of combinations which never allowed Caceres to establish a rhythm. With a hectic pace, Rodriguez appeared both too fast and creative for Caceres’s defense and was able to land strikes from a distance as well as inside the clinch.
In round three, the momentum seemed to shift. Caceres moved away from his counter strategy and decided to be more aggressive with his hands, getting the best of Rodriguez whilst in boxing range. Towards the end of the third, both fighters were in a wild scramble on the mat with Caceres ending up in a strong top position. Caceres was then able to land some vicious strikes against the grounded 23-year- old and ultimately took out the round.
Rodriguez looked to be running out of gas, but seemed to recover well and likely won both the fourth and fifth rounds. Rodriguez remained highly active in the final rounds to seal what ended up being a dominant victory for the TUF: Latin American winner.
Yair Rodriguez (8-1), who has yet to lose in the UFC, was able to prove that he not only possesses the required skill-set but also the championship motor to truly shake up the stacked featherweight division.
Alex Caceres (12-9, 1 NC) came into the fight on a two fight winning streak, which included a dominant unanimous decision victory over Cole Miller at UFC 199 in June
In the co-main event, Dennis Bermudez was able to convincingly take out fiery Brazilian Rony Jason by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-27).
Bermudez utilised his wrestling power and opened on Jason with brutal elbows to the forehead. Jason looked dangerous on occasion but was thoroughly outmatched by Bermudez’s beautiful integration of skills. The third round was a lot closer with both fighters evenly exchanging on the feet. Then when the fight ended up on the mat, Jason nearly caused the upset and came close to snatching up a rear naked choke. But Bermudez swept, got on top and finished with unrelenting ground and pound from the guard.
Afterward, Bermudez called out Frankie Edgar for UFC 205 on November 12 in New York. This fight having potential legs with Edgar being born in New Jersey and Bermudez living in Long island. Bermudez (16-5), now on a two fight winning streak after losing to top contenders Jeremy Stephens and Ricardo Lamas, has put himself right back into the featherweight mix.
On the UFC Fight Pass card, UFC fifth ranked featherweight Cub Swanson gritted out a compelling victory over tough veteran Tatsuya Kawajiri.
After being taken down and nullified offensively in the first round, Swanson was able to remain elusive and conduct beautiful striking technique in a unanimous decision victory (30-27, 30-27, 29-28). Swanson (23-7) has won two in a row after dropping two straight against Frankie Edgar and Max Holloway.
Main Card Results (Fox Sports):
- Yair Rodriguez def. Alex Caceres via Decision (Split)
- Dennis Bermudez def. Rony Jason via Decision (Unanimous)
- Thales Leites def. Chris Camozzi via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 3, 2:58
- Santiago Ponzinibbio def. Zak Cummings via Decision (Unanimous)
- Trevor Smith def. Joe Gigliotti via Decision (Unanimous)
- Maryna Moroz def. Danielle Taylor via Decision (Split)
Preliminart Card Results (Fox Sports):
- Court McGee def. Dominique Steele via Decision (Unanimous)
- Marcin Tybura def. Viktor Pesta via KO (Head Kick), Rd 2, 0:53
- David Teymur def. Jason Novelli via KO (Punches), Rd 2, 1:25
- Teruto Ishihara def. Horacio Gutierrez via KO (Punches), Rd 1, 2:32
Preliminary Card Results (UFC Fight Pass):
- Cub Swanson def. Tatsuya Kawajiri via Decision (Unanimous)
- Justin Ledet def. Chase Sherman via Decision (Unanimous)
