Investigations ensued, Dulgarian was banished by the UFC, and though del Valle has never been accused of any wrongdoing, he’d no doubt like to put it all behind him, and has a chance to do so against a respectable opponent in Jordan Leavitt at UFC Houston.

To open the fight, Leavitt landed a quick double-leg, scoring about a minute of control before Del Valle was struck in the groin while working back to his feet. Following a pause in action, the UFC veteran continued to force his will upon the less experienced Del Valle, ultimately finding the fight back on the ground in full guard. Leavitt threatened with a heel hook at the end of the round, but it was more of an exclamation on a clear 10-9 for the Las Vegas native.

Round two was more of the same for “The Monkey King,” this time finding some success with a few front kicks up the middle before again bringing Yadier Del Valle to the ground with a takedown. Del Valle was able to reverse transition into a submission attempt from the bottom, but Leavitt was able escape, returning to his dominant before another break in the action arose following an attempt to push off his opponent by Yadier Del Valle, landing a knee to the grounded Leavitt. Leavitt remained in top control position following the stoppage, again throwing up another heel hook submission as time expired.

Up a likely 2-0, Leavitt was on his bike for the third round, avoiding almost all striking encounters with “The Cuban Problem.” A much better round for Yadier Del Valle being the forward fighter, as he was able to find himself postured up with Leavitt in his guard. Del Valle landed some light ground and pound, though not effective enough as Leavitt aimed another submission attempt at the legs of Del Valle, collapsing all hope for a third round finish for the opposition.

With the decision win, Leavitt hands Yadier Del Valle his first loss in his professional career, moving to 13-3-0 and 6-3-0 in the UFC.

Official Result: Jordan Leavitt def. Yadier Del Valle by Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

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Steve Garcia

Maybe it’s because he started off his UFC stint 1-2, but fans seem to have been too dismissive of Steve Garcia’s current win streak, which he extended to seven on Saturday. Ever since dropping to featherweight after his loss to Maheshate, Garcia has been on a tear, winning seven straights, six of which via KO. The streak features names like Chase Hooper, the also streaking Melquizael Costa, Calvin Kattar and now David Onama.

After his win, Garcia called out Josh Emmett in his post-fight presser. Though that’s not a bad name to call out at all, I prefer the option he laid out. After submitting the aforementioned Emmett in under two minutes, I had Youssef Zalal fighting the winner of this main event should Garcia be victorious in UFC 320’s edition of what’s next. And victorious he was, so why not see if Zalal can avenge his teammate Onama and stop the red-hot Garcia?

Garcia’s next fight: Youssef Zalal

Waldo Cortes-Acosta

It wasn’t the cleanest performance from referee Mark Smtih and we’ll see if Ante Delija can manage to get this result overturned with an appeal, but in the spirit of fairness, Waldo Cortes-Acosta didn’t do anything wrong on Saturday. We will treat this as a victory for the Dominican fighter as long as it is ruled as such.

Tom Aspinall will undoubtedly rematch Ciryl Gane and the winner will probably have to fight Alexander Volkov. But if the division can manage to move through all this relatively quickly, “Salsa Boy” might be just one more good win away from a title shot. Jailton Almeida, Derrick Lewis and Shamil Gaziev should he beat Serghei Spivac are all names I wouldn’t be against putting in there with WCA, but I ultimately landed on Curtis Blaydes as I think Cortes-Acosta should have his takedown defence tested once more before eyeing a title shot.

Cortes-Acosta’s next fight: Curtis Blaydes

Jeremiah Wells

It wasn’t the most thrilling affair, but Jeremiah Wells got his hand raised for the first time since April of 2023, outlasting Themba Gorimbo for a unanimous decision win. At 39 years of age, the best is almost certainly behind Wells, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t still some fun things to do with him. I think a fight with the guy who won just two fights prior could make for a fun scrap.

Wells’ next fight: Charles Radtke

Yadier del Valle

Potential betting scandal aside, this was Yadier del Valle’s second 1^st-round rear-naked choke win in as many UFC bouts. With this win, the 29-year-old undefeated prospect took his perfect record to double digit. Being undefeated at featherweight means one thing and one thing only: will Christian Rodriguez take another 0? C-Rod’s last four wins came against then-undefeated Raul Rosas Jr., Cameron Saaiman, Isaac Dulgarian and Austin Bashi. Gimmick aside, there’s no doubt Rodriguez is someone who can test a guy like del Valle. The gimmick just adds a bit of spice to what might otherwise be a bout that would fly under the radar.

del Valle’s next fight: Christian Rodriguez

Charles Radtke

Charles Radtke was looking to bounce back after his brutal KO loss to Mike Malott in May. Though Daniel Frunza survived a bit longer than some of us might have expected, Radtke did eventually sink in the rear-naked choke. As mentioned, I think he and Jeremiah Wells would make for an entertaining matchup.

Radtke’s next fight: Jeremiah Wells

Allan Nascimento

Through inactivity, a weight miss and a bit of bad luck, Allan Nascimento’s last win at 125 lbs goes back to January of 2023. It’s a shame he hasn’t been able to gather more momentum because he could be an interesting player at flyweight. He’s now won four straights, two of which got him Performance of the Night bonuses, after taking Tagir Ulanbekov to a split decision in his promotional debut. The UFC rarely likes to reward inactivity, which is why I think they will most likely just end up rebooking the Rafael Estevam matchup, which isn’t a bad idea at all.

Nascimento’s next fight: Rafael Estevam

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The post Yadier del Valle Makes Statement, Stays Undefeated With Sub Win appeared first on Cageside Press.

Del Valle (9-0) kept his undefeated record intact by submitting Matthews via first round rear-naked choke.

“I’m very happy. I’m realizing my childhood dreams of having the best job in the world that a fighter can have,” Del Valle told reporters including Cageside Press at his post-fight scrum.

“I feel like I graduated tonight. Like the doctor that graduated, spent his entire life studying to graduate, that’s how I feel today. I graduated.”

A heck of a graduation to say the least as Del Valle didn’t just win, but showed his chops on the ground. Normally known for being a striker his ground game shone bright.

“Truthfully my coaches and I were expecting the finish regardless of whether it came by knockout or submission. We did our job today and we finished the fight quicker than we expected,” he said.

“We were looking for the knockout, but it happens. The fight ended up on the ground and we finished it by rear-naked choke. I love that it happened that way because people think I can only strike. I can take the fight to the ground and dominate as well.”

With no injuries to speak of following the fight Del Valle is ready to return

“Thank God we came out with no injuries. I’ve got some business to handle when I get back to Houston including opening up my Cuban restaurant. I’ll get back to training as soon as possible right into fight camp, and wait for the call,” he said.

“We’ll be ready to fight anybody.”

Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Yadier Del Valle above.

* Translated by Cageside Press’ Eddie Law

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