Erick Perez earned a unanimous decision victory against Francisco Rivera tonight at UFC 201.
Round One:
Perez feels out with a front kick to the face that comes up short. In close Rivera fires off a one-two that just misses.
Left hook for Rivera. Leg kick for Perez. Another left hook for Rivera. Rivera catches him again with the one-two.
Perez with a few kicks, one goes upstairs and lands, but not with significant power. Perez fakes a takedown attempt. Rivera almost connects with the hook again.
Rivera with a head kick attempt. Now he targets the leg of Perez. Perez with a short flurry of punches. Now a leg kick.
Lots of movement from Perez. Rivera with a body kick, but Perez catches it. Exchange in close and Perez was quicker on the draw there.
Perez with a takedown, but Rivera stands right back up. Perez keeps him pressed up against the cage landing a few knees and punches before they separate.
Knee to the body from Perez then a left hook. One-two from Rivera. Rivera connects with a big punch, but Perez counters with a leg kick that knocks his opponent off-balance.
Both men looking to trade some more as the round comes to a close.
Round Two:
Leg kick for Perez. Right hand for Rivera. Inside leg kick from Perez knocks Rivera to the mat for a brief moment.
Leg kick for Rivera now. He misses with a left hook. Straight right for Perez. He gets a body kick, then Rivera with one.
Perez circling on the outside. He attempts a spinning backfist and just misses. Overhand right for Rivera just grazes his opponent.
Perez bundles into a takedown attempt, but is brushed aside by Rivera. Jab and a spinning elbow from Perez. Rivera has some blood to the right side of his head near the temple.
Kicks exchanged. Nice right hand for Perez. Body kick. He catches a body kick from Rivera and takes him down momentarily.
Leg kick for Rivera. Nice right hand for Perez and a leg kick for Rivera. Nice straight right for Rivera. He gets a left hook. Perez with a body punch.
Leg kick for Perez and backs Rivera up to the cage. He’s able to secure a solid takedown from here and lands a few body shots as the round comes to a close.
Round Three:
Both men trade toe-to-toe to start the round. Perez drops to the floor, but gets back up. They are just winging wild strikes at each other at close range! Crazy stuff and both men are showing solid chins here as they take each others punches.
Rivera burns out and is legs give out, from tiredness as much as anything, and Perez picks that moment to barrel in for a takedown and gets him to the mat against the cage.
Perez thumps in some big body shots and Rivera’s cut from earlier is now leaving a small pool of blood on the mat.
Perez continues to dig to the body, while Rivera looks tired and out of ideas underneath him.
with 30 seconds remaining in the round Rivera finally is able to stand back up, but Perez stays tight to him in the clinch.
They separate with 10 seconds remaining, but we don’t see a repeat of the fireworks from the start of the round.
Decision:
No real doubts about the winner here, with Perez outworking Rivera for most of the fight on the feet and the mat, en-route to a unanimous decision victory (30-26 x2, 29-28).
