One of four bantamweight fights at UFC Louisville saw John Castaneda paired up with Daniel Marcos on the night’s preliminary card.
Marcos remained undefeated, 15-0 plus a No Contest after his fight with Aoriqileng ended early due to an accidental low blow. Castaneda, looking to serve up the first loss of Daniel Marcos’ pro career, came into Saturday on a two-fight win streak.
The fight started out with Marcos taking the center of the octagon but eating a couple of leg kicks from his opponent. Marcos threw a couple punch combination that partially landed as Castaneda again landed some leg kicks. About 90 seconds into the round, Marcos again uncorked a multi-punch combination against the fence that partially found its mark. With about 3 minutes left in the round Marcos landed a straight right that dropped Castaneda momentarily. Daniel was constantly covering and tapping the lead hand of his opponent and landed a nice front kick to the body. With a minute left in the round, Marcos landed a nice body kick and fired off some powerful single punches. With seconds left, Marcos again landed a flush right straight that wobbled his opponent. Marcos swarmed and landed an uppercut, among other punches, that dropped his opponent.
To open the second round, Castaneda again peppered that lead leg with leg kicks. Marcos landed another combination and Castaneda returned with a takedown attempt. After a battle against the cage, the two men are back in space. Marcos landed some nasty punches and a knee that again dropped his opponent but found him defending yet another takedown. Nearly halfway thru the round and Marcos was the one who pressed his opponent to the cage before he fended off another deep double leg attempt. As the two fighters separate, Marcos landed a nice head kick followed by a 1-2. Castaneda responded with good lateral movement and landed a couple of punches before he shot in on a double, and successfully landed a takedown. John only maintained control for a moment and when the men returned to their feet Marcos landed some nice shots to make him pay. With seconds left, Marcos partially landed a switch kick as the two men stared each other down as time expired.
The two men showed respect to start the final round. Castaneda got right to work with his leg kicks and movement, while being stalked by his opponent. Marcos returned with leg kicks and teeps of his own, before he caught John with a teep to the cup. The ref, Dan Miragliotta seemed to think it was on the belt line, so the action resumed. Marcos was able to defend another takedown with a clinch and land a solid knee on the break. John was still pushing the pace valiantly but was getting hit to the body continually by the teeps of Marcos. Midway thru the round and Marcos was sliding in and out of range and landed shots at will. Marcos landed a nice body shot.
With nearly a minute left in the round Marcos lands two right hands to drop his opponent. The two end up against the cage and Castaneda looked hurt. In the closing seconds, Marcos is cracked by a head kick to the top of the head and took a step back visibly wobbled. The fight would end with as Marcos was chased around the cage by Castaneda.
Official Result: Daniel Marcos def. Jon Castaneda by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
