UFC Mexico Results: Erik Perez Wins Hard-Fought Decision
Chants of “Goyito” helped power one of the newest stars in the UFC through a grueling three-round fight that put the Mexican warrior’s heart on display.
In a beautiful display of ground game, Erik “Goyito” Perez defeated Felipe Arantes via split decision at UFC Mexico in a fight that went the distance and was spent largely on the ground.
Perez has always been known as a fighter who isn’t afraid of a brawl but is also known for having a very good ground game.
Although Arantes was able to fight out of bad positions on the ground he was never able to keep Perez from taking him back down and controlling positions while landing strikes on the ground. Even with a seemingly injured left knee Perez was still able to set up takedowns using strikes which ultimately led him to the split-decision win over Arantes (28-29, 29-28, 29-28).
The first round started with both fighters being very tentative trying to find their rhythm. They battled in spurts of wild punches mixed in between leg kicks. Perez’s movement was very quick, moving in and out of range in order to get Arantes to overextend allowing Perez to counter.
Arantes landed most of the leg kicks in the first round until Perez caught a kick and took Arantes to the ground landing some punches and elbows from the top.
Arantes was able to get a hold of a heel hook for about 10 seconds, Perez clearly in some pain, but he was able to fight out of it and get into a guard of his own.
Arantes worked on a guillotine from that position, transitioned to an armbar that Perez was able to fight out of and moved into top control landing some nasty elbows. The round ended with Perez still on top in half guard landing elbows.
Perez came out in the second round with a body kick that landed slightly but Arantes came back with a three jabs. It seemed as though Perez had injured his left knee early in the fight.
Arantes sent a leg kick that Perez caught and used to take the fight back to the ground. Arantes was able to get into half-guard momentarily, but Perez passed into mount and began to land elbows and body shots.
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Perez tried to move for a submission which caused a scramble and Arantes ended up on Perez’s back. Perez fought the body lock off, spun around, and ended up on top of Arantes. Perez continued to control positions, getting into side control where the fight stayed until the end of the round.
The two came together smiling at the start of the final round, swapped high fives, and got after it. Perez’s left knee seemed to get worse as the fight went on.
Perez began to throw some wild shots trying to lure Arantes into a brawl. Arantes obliged with a spinning back fist which Perez used to take Arantes to the ground landing in side control.
Arantes tried to hip out of side control but that allowed Perez to get into north south position and then back into side control. In perfect position to do so, Perez landed elbows right to the face of Arantes.
Arantes was able to get the fight back to the feet with 2 minutes left in the fight and had Perez moving backwards until he fell to the ground possibly due to the injured left knee. The fight ended with Arantes going for an arm-triangle choke but running out of time.
Perez earned a split-decision win over Arantes (28-29, 29-28, 29-28).
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