Sergio Pettis is ready to challenge Demetrious Johnson for the UFC's 125-pound title after defeating Brandon Moreno in a very complete fight at the Arena Ciudad de Mexico.
Alexa Grasso returned to the path of victory against Randa Marcos and became the most acclaimed once again, as happened in November of last year when she joined the promotion.
The UFC Fight Night had six defeats for Mexican fighters, but the Tijuana native of the main event showed strength after the loss and promised to come back for a win.
The Entram Gym prodigy saw his three-fight winning streak in the octagon broken, where he made his debut just in October of last year.
Moreno took Pettis' back for over two minutes in the first round, but couldn't finish him. The American's corner adjusted well and they had almost 10 minutes of dominance and punishment for the local fighter.
The right hand was constant and landed several head kicks. He ended up cutting him in the right eyebrow and in the fourth round the referee called for a review taking advantage of an accidental eye poke.
The fifth round was again for Brandon, but Raúl Arvizu and the rest of his corner knew they wouldn't win.
Grasso once again conquered the capital city's audience in a tough fight against Markos. The Lobo Gym member showcased her great boxing skills again and landed powerful strikes from the first episode, combining hands and kicks.
Randa clearly won the second round with takedowns and several submission attempts, however, the woman from Guadalajara managed to defend herself in all of them and came out of the serious trouble she was in when her opponent had full mount and was looking to hit her with elbows.
In the third round, she recovered her rhythm and drive, went forward punishing with the right hand to tilt the split decision.
The main card had two early and spectacular knockouts, first Peruvian Humberto Bandenay made a spectacular debut by knocking out Martin Bravo with a knee strike, winner of the third season of the reality show The Ultimate Fighter Latinoamérica.
Rosarito's fighter was looking for a takedown and ended up unconscious for several seconds in a dramatic scene, just like Alain Jouban, who became the most recent victim of Niko Price.
He was taken down three times by Andre Soukhamthath's left jab, but showed the heart of a warrior to turn the fight around on the scorecards of two of the three judges, who gave him the victory by split decision.
Rashad Evans and Sam Alvey disappointed the crowd in a very slow-paced fight with little exchange, but Alvey, who was already known by the Mexican audience, came out as the winner.
UFC Mexico
August 5th
Arena Ciudad de Mexico
ALL RESULTS
Main Card
- Sergio Pettis defeated Brandon Moreno by unanimous decision (49-46, 48-46, 48-46).
- Alexa Grasso defeated Randa Markos by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28).
- Niko Price knocked out Alan Jouban (Strikes) (R1, 1:44).
- Humberto Bandenay knocked out Martin Bravo (Strikes) (R1, 0:26).
- Sam Alvey defeated Rashad Evans by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28).
- Alejandro Pérez defeated Andre Soukhamthath by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28).
Preliminary Card
- Jack Hermansson defeated Bradley Scott by TKO (Strikes) (3:50).
- Dustin Ortiz knocked out Hector Sandoval (Strikes) (R1, 0:15).
- Rani Yahya submitted Henry Briones (Kimura) (R1, 2:01).
- José Alberto Quiñónez defeated Diego Rivas by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).
Early Preliminary Card
- Joseph Morales submitted Robert Sanchez (Rear-Naked Choke) (R1, 3:56).
- Jordan Rinaldi submitted Álvaro Herrera (Von Flue) (R1, 2:01).