Replacing Joaquim Silva at UFC Mexico City was 42-year old Vinc Pichel, looking to stave off a third straight defeat when he took on Rafa Garcia.
The preliminary card lightweight match-up had Garcia also looking to return to the win column following a loss against Grant Dawson last October. This was Garcia’s first time fighting in front of his Mexican home crowd.
Garcia came out with forward pressure right away. He landed a right hand and a left hook to the body in the opening minute. Garcia caught a kick and tried to turn it into a takedown, but Pichel stuffed the attempt. An overhand right from Garcia got home. Pichel was feinting and moving lot, but seemed hesitant to throw anything. Garcia caught another kick and used it to get to a back body lock. After clinching for a while, he eventually got the fight to the ground as Pichel threw an ill-advised spinning elbow. A clear 10-9 for the Mexican.
Pichel started to look a little more elusive at the start of round 2. But as his activity levels started to increase, he ate a clean right hand from Garcia. An eye poke from Pichel 1:41 into the round forced a stop to the action. The replay showed Pichel’s left thumb clearly poking Garcia’s right eye. Once they got back to it, Pichel kept finding his groove on the feet, forcing Garcia to wrestle. Pichel stuffed the takedown and kept landing clean jabs on Garcia. Garcia moved forward, but ate a big counter right from Pichel over the top. As round 2 ended, the veteran Pichel seemingly had found his range and tied it up 19-19.
With the fight tied entering the final round, both fighters came out looking to land big strikes. Pichel’s right hand connected and momentarily forced Garcia backwards. The Mexican’s pressure was relentless and he started to target the body. The body shots appeared to affect the 42-year-old as his activity started to slowly decrease. This decrease in volume allowed Garcia to land a nice combination.
Halfway through round three, Garcia was the one doing the better work. Pichel, perhaps feeling the urgency, started to stand his ground and even attempted a takedown of his own. For the first time in this fight, Pichel was the one who had Garcia with his back to the fence. Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t able to take advantage of that opportunity. With the Mexican crowd behind him, Garcia lifted Pichel high up in the air and slammed him on the ground to secure the fight in the final minute.
When the decision was read, two judges surprisingly gave Garcia round two. With this win, the Mexican Garcia now moves to 5-4 in the UFC. As for Vinc Pichel, dropping a third consecutive fight at 42 years of age isn’t great, but time will tell whether the UFC will keep him around.
Official Result: Rafa Garcia def. Pichel by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
