Kicking off the UFC 283 card on Saturday, Peruvian bantamweight and Contender Series winner Daniel Marcos was welcomed to the octagon by Brazil’s own Saimon Oliveira.
Marcos, who had missed three years prior to his Contender Series fight, put his undefeated, 13-0 record on the line in the fight.
Thirty seconds into the card’s opening fight, Oliveira shot in on a takedown. It was against the cage and Marcos was able to defend and circle out. Oliveira shot in on another takedown but it came from a mile away — an attempt which Marcos easily defended.
Marcos was the one pressing forward. Oliveira was landing well but was more worried about pushing Marcos against the cage. Marcos kept defending the takedowns and started to mix it up in space. Oliveira was being very sloppy throwing pointless spinning attacks not coming close. Marcos was making him pay by landing some clean shots in the closing seconds of the round. Marcos was more aggressive and landed the more significant shots. Also, the takedown defense of Daniel Marcos was perfect.
In round two Oliveira started off by missing another spinning backfist. Marcos hurt Oliveira with a body kick forcing him to shoot. Marcos defended and landed a combination, resulting in Oliveira turning away from him. Marcos was going to the body and head while using the kicks mixing it up. He kept going after Oliveira and Oliveira was turning away from him again and again, turtling up. More blows to the body and some knees put Oliveira down and the ref stepped in.
DANIEL MARCOS, WELCOME TO THE UFC!!!! #UFC283 pic.twitter.com/eSVZJqPJk5
— UFC (@ufc) January 21, 2023
“I worked really hard, I only had a few weeks to come back here, but I knew I was going to come back here,” Marcos said following the fight, before calling for “50Gs, baby!”
Official Result: Daniel Marcos def. Saimon Oliveira by TKO (knees and punches), Round 2, 2:18
