Bantamweights Ricky Simon and Adrian Yanez were a late addition to Saturday’s UFC Seattle card, and a welcome one.
While both were coming off losses (Simon to Raoni Barcelos, Yanez to Daniel Marcos), both were also high-action fighters known for exciting bouts with bonus potential.
The second fight of UFC Seattle kicked off as the two veterans, Yanez and Simon met in the center of the Octagon starting the opening round with a feeling out process. You could definitely see the respect for one another in what each brought to the fight. Yanez was moving well showing his elite boxing footwork, while keeping a low stance and staying on the move ready for the takedown of Ricky Simon.
Both men were looking sharp, finding their rhythm and range, while Ricky was looking for the takedown but couldn’t quite find his set up with the movement of Yanez.
Yanez soon started putting things together, really seeming to find his shots. In the final 30 seconds of the first, the boys started letting their hands go, both finding success! It was a very close round ending with Yanez looking a bit sharper and a step ahead. Both men had to stop and dap each other up before heading to their corner, acknowledging the beautiful exchange between the two.
Picking up where they left off, both fighters were looking for their openings and finding success in their strikes in round two. Yanez’s boxing looked especially sharp early in the round.
About two minutes in, Ricky Simon secured the takedown and found himself in Yanez’s guard, letting off some solid ground and pound. Although unable to keep him down long, as Yanez worked his way back to his feet and immediately got to the cage.
Simon kept the pressure on, controlling the position and landing strikes where he could, still hunting for another takedown. Yanez eventually created space, got back to the center of the octagon with around 90 seconds left, and started opening up a bit more.
Stronger round for Simon overall — really putting his grit and control on display. Both guys had their moments in the exchanges, Simon even finding success mixing in a left head kick, while Yanez continued to find success with his slick boxing. It was a close round, with Simon likely taking round two.
Going into the third and final round of a beautiful back-and-forth match, it was very possibly a 19-19 fight with one more round to go. Somewhere in the first 90 seconds of the third round Yanez landed a nasty cut to the eye of Simon. A little blood didn’t slow him down though, and you could see that the two were having fun in there.
Yanez landed a stiff right hand with just two minutes left in the round that seemed to slow Ricky down a bit. At that moment it was clear that Yanez smelled blood, really on the hunt, putting on a beautiful display of boxing.
In the final 10 seconds the boys agreed to bite down and throw, where Adrian landed a nasty right hand at close range that put Simon to his knees, followed by a flurry of punches from Yanez. That still didn’t stop Simon though, showing immense heart still throwing, fighting, making it to the final bell.
Simon stood to his feet, still not having his legs back completely, but immediately going to Yanez to show respect for the incredible war these two just shared. Yanez gave the same respect right back as they waited for the judges’ score cards.
They met in the center of the octagon awaiting the result, Yanez looking and feeling very confident in his performance while Bruce read the results out loud: “29-28 for Ricky Simon, 28-28, 28-28” with the fight ending in a draw. Definitely controversial for the fans, few of whom would have seen that coming. Even if the result it was everything you’d expect when matching these two together. Two judges appeared to have given Yanez a 10-8 in round three, almost certainly based on the knockdown.
Despite the controversial decision, it’s safe to say this fight has big FOTN potential.
Official Result: Adrian Yanez vs. Ricky Simon ends in a Majority Draw (29-28, 28-28, 28-28)
