Markus Perez scored the first submission of the night at UFC Fortaleza on Saturday, finishing off Anthony Hernandez in the second round.
To finish off the prelims for UFC Fortaleza, UFC newcomer Anthony Hernandez clashed with the hometown Brazilian, Markus Perez, in a middleweight bout. Anthony “Fluffy” Hernandez entered the bout an undefeated UFC newcomer, fresh off an impressive first round knockout on Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series last summer.
Markus Perez came into the fight chis last time out an unanimous decision loss against TUF Season 23 winner, Andrew Sanchez. Perez was 1-2 in the UFC entering the bout, desperate for a win in-front of his Brazilian crowd.
Both fighters were champions in their previous promotions before moving to the UFC.
To open up the fight Markus immediately targets the legs with a leg kick. Hernandez responds by rushing forward and throwing punches before the two fighters clinch against the fence. Perez expertly switches to the upper-hand in the clinch and gets his back off the fence. The two fighters battle back and forth both attempting to gain the upper hand in the clinch and not throwing many strikes. Perez is able to elevate Hernandez with a body lock and throw him to the canvas for the highlight reel take down. Perez again elevates but isn’t able to take down as Hernandez fights to get his feet back on the ground. Hernandez breaks the clinch with a spinning elbow that glances and he desperately tries to get space to strike.
The two fighters reset in the middle of the octagon and a right hand lands for Fluffy and it grabs the attention of Markus, who responds with a left hook finds its mark on Fluffy’s face. Perez is able to come back quickly, leaping and rushing forward throwing hooks till his opponent is to the fence and again they clinch and go to the fence. They again separate but not before some nice shots by Perez. Towards the end of the round Hernandez is landing huge combinations but moving in and engaging in the clinch every time cutting himself short. Right at the end of the round Perez lands a jumping knee on his opponent bloodying his face.
At the start of round two Perez comes out and lands a massive left body kick the hurts Hernandez and backs him up towards the cage. Perez swarms him and takes him down fighting to go to the mat Hernandez expertly scrambles and is able to escape but on his way back to his feet gets caught in a standing d’arce choke. Hernandez drags his opponent back onto the canvas and expertly squeezes the choke forcing the tap.
Result: Markus Perez defeats Anthony Hernandez via. D’arce Choke 1:07 of 2nd Round
