Yair Rodriguez Split Decision Turns Away Alex Caceres in UFC Fight Night 92 Main Event

Yair Rodriguez, it seems, never runs out of ammunition. “The Ultimate Fighter Latin America” winner pushed a merciless pace across five rounds at elevation and escaped with a split decision against Alex Caceres in the UFC Fight Night 92 headliner on Saturday at the Vivint Smart Home Arena in Salt Lake City. Two of the three judges saw it for Caceres, 48-47 and 48-47, while a third struck a 49-46 scorecard for Caceres. Rodriguez (9-1, 5-0 UFC) blended traditional techniques with wild spinning attacks and unorthodox kicks. The 23-year-old taekwondo black belt at times overwhelmed Caceres with volume but never had the MMA Lab rep in real danger. Caceres (12-9, 7-7 UFC) made his most substantial moves in the third round, where he flurried with punches, connected with a knee to the body and scrambled into to top position, applying his ground-and-pound from a crouched position. Rodriguez righted his ship in round four, as he backed up “Bruce Leeroy” with kicks to the legs, punches upstairs and another barrage of spinning punches and kicks. Though Caceres landed a takedown in the fifth round, he failed to consolidate it with damage or control. Rodriguez kept his foot on the accelerator until the end, capping his performance with a last-second cartwheel kick that missed the mark but nevertheless wowed the crowd. Related » UFC Salt Lake City Round-by-Round Scoring Bermudez Bests Returning Bezerra Long Island MMA standout Dennis Bermudez utilized takedowns and damaging ground-and-pound in securing a unanimous decision over “The Ultimate Fighter Brazil” Season 1 winner Rony Mariano Bezerra in the featherweight co-main event. All three cageside judges sided with Bermudez (16-5, 9-3 UFC): 30-27, 30-26 and 30-27. In his first appearance in more than a year, Bezerra (14-6, 4-3 UFC) was on his heels from the start. Bermudez delivered his first takedown roughly two minutes into the fight and opened a gruesome vertical gash on the Brazilian’s forehead with a short elbow. Blood poured from the wound, but Bezerra fought on. He knocked Bermudez out of the air with a counter right hand in the second round but whiffed on a guillotine choke and wound up on the bottom. Bezerra returned to his feet, only to be taken down again, not once, not twice, but three different times. Bermudez nearly squandered his good work in the third round. Bezerra reversed out of a lazy takedown attempt from “The Ultimate Fighter 14” finalist, mounted briefly and closed in on a rear-naked choke. Bermudez waded through the adversity, moved to a more advantageous position and restored orderLeites Choke Submits Camozzi Nova Uniao’s Thales Leites submitted Chris Camozzi with a palm-to-palm rear-naked choke in the third round of their welterweight feature. Leites (26-6, 11-5 UFC) finished it 2:58 into round three, breaking a two-fight losing streak in the process. A replacement for the injured Brad Tavares, Camozzi (24-11, 9-8) was a non-factor. Leites ran him through a maze of clinches from which there was no exit. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt advanced to the back in all three rounds, wearing down Camozzi with ground-and-pound and the constant threat of various chokes. Leites secured his final takedown inside the first 40 seconds of round three, circled to the back, cut off escape with a body triangle and eventually snaked his arms in place for the choke.Streaking Ponzinibbio Downs Cummings American Top Team export Santiago Ponzinibbio won for the third time in as many appearances, as he was awarded a unanimous verdict over Zak Cummings in a featured tilt at 170 pounds. Ponzinibbio (23-3, 5-2 UFC) drew 29-28, 29-28 and 30-27 nods from the judges. Cummings (19-5, 5-2 UFC) could not match the hand speed of the Argentine striker. Ponzinibbio tore into him with probing jabs and …

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