Alex Perez made the most of his main card placement at UFC Raleigh, picking up an exciting submission win over Jordan Espinosa.
The flyweight division has life in it yet, and Jordan Espinosa vs. Alex Perez was another reminder of that on Saturday. Going down on the UFC Raleigh main card, the two Contender Series alums were at vastly different points in their UFC tenures. Perez was 4-1, and returning from a bantamweight win over Mark De La Rosa.
Espinosa was 1-1 to date, and entered the night off a submission loss to Matt Schnell.
Jordan Espinosa opened with a leg kick that was then followed with a combination. After that Perez answered with a leg kick of his own. The two exchanged kicks that just missed the mark before another exchange which saw Perez get the clinch and the take down. Perez worked in half guard, with punches and elbows to the body and legs of Espinosa. Perez was in position for an arm triangle and after he landed some shots to open him up, Alex Perez put the squeeze on to get the submission win over Espinosa.
A big win, and post-fight Perez called out Askar Askarov, which with Askarov also picking up a key win makes plenty of sense moving forward.
Official Result: Alex Perez def. Jordan Espinosa by submission (arm triangle), Round 1, 2:33
