Flyweight Daniel Lacerda was the rarest of fighters in the UFC: having started his run with the company at 0-4, he was given a fifth fight at Noche UFC, paired up with Edgar Chairez.
It was a virtual certainty that Lacerda was getting his last chance, in a must-win situation at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday.
To begin the fight Chairez landed a few nice jabs with low kicks following them. Lacerda returned a heavy leg kick of his own though as he looked to find his feet early in this fight. The Brazilian then looked to land a high kick after going to the leg a few times, but he couldn’t find his mark. Lacerda then went for one of his signature spinning wheel kicks, but he was some distance away again. With just 2:45 seconds left of the round, Lacerda decided to take this fight to the ground and secured himself a takedown. From there, Chairez looked to try and catch Lacerda in an arm-bar and although he couldn’t quite find it, it allowed him space to get back to his feet.
When the fight returned to the feet, Chairez reversed the clinch on the cage and began attacking a standing guillotine. A few times Chris Tognoni looked to step in but Lacerda gave him the signs that he was still in the fight and was working out ways to get out. Again Chris Tognoni looked to step in and instead of checking if Lacerda was definitely out, he just stepped in and pulled Chairez away. Unsurprisingly, Lacerda popped straight out looking absolutely fine, complaining that Tognoni prematurely stepped in. From there, there was a few minute delay before the official result was called. Bruce Buffer announced that rightly the bout was going to be ruled a no decision, having been reviewed by officials cageside.
Where this leaves Lacerda is anyone’s guess, but perhaps the UFC can run this one back.
No tap but the ref jumps in and stops this one 😬 #NocheUFC pic.twitter.com/5jIboRwzbT
— UFC (@ufc) September 17, 2023
Official Result: Edgar Chairez vs Daniel Lacerda ends in a No Decision (ref error), Round 1, 3:47
