When the dust had settled and the smoke had cleared, a couple of Texas natives cashed in at UFC San Antonio.
The Fight Night card was plagued by fight cancellations even as the event itself got underway, losing a fight on Thursday, another on Friday, and then a third with the show already underway as Alex Perez suffered a medical issue backstage prior to his fight with Manel Kape.
It was another flyweight pairing, however, that took home Fight of the Night. An explosive first round by Daniel Lacerda had him well ahead against San Antonio’s own CJ Vergara, but he rallied back in the second, taking Lacerda to the ground and peppering him with strikes until the ref finally waved it off.
An early candidate for Comeback of the Year after Vergara was knocked down (and nearly out) in the opening round, instead the Texan walked away with the win — and $50,000 in bonus money. For Lacerda (Daniel Da Silva), he’s now 0-4 in the UFC, and despite some entertaining fights, will almost surely be shown the door.
Performance of the Night honors at UFC San Antonio went to Nate Landwehr, who submitted short-notice replacement Austin Lingo, and another Texas native, Daniel Pineda. Returning from over a year away in part due to a suspension for amphetamines, Pineda notched career win number 28 by submitting Tucker Lutz.
Along with career win #28, that’s also stoppage #28 for the 37-year old.
