After getting dominated in the first round, Sergio Pettis shut down Brandon Moreno’s takedown and took over on his feet.
Pettis (16-2 MMA, 7-2 UFC) soundly outstruck Moreno (14-4 MMA, 3-1 UFC) from the second frame into championship rounds to take home a unanimous decision via scores of 49-46 and 48-46 twice.
“I definitely had to face some adversity,” Pettis said afterward. “He came out there and put me in a very dangerous position. I had four rounds to prove I was a better man, and I did it.”
The flyweight bout was the main event of today’s UFC Fight Night 114 event at Mexico City Arena in Mexico. It aired on FS1 following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass.
Moreno, No. 9 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA flyweight rankings, came in hoping to get a big win in front of his native Mexico and gave the crowd high hopes early. A kick from Pettis allowed him to take the fight to the mat, and he quickly scrambled to back control, where he set up a choke. Unable to free himself, Pettis spent the opening frame fighting Moreno’s hands and biding his time.
Pettis had the opportunity to give Moreno the same treatment in the second round when he caught a kick. Instead, he stood back and settled in with striking. Moreno took him back down but was forced to retreat after Pettis used a triangle choke to initiate a scramble.
A little too loose for his own good, Moreno took several hard right hands as he channeled martial arts movies with his movement and left his head blatantly exposed. Pettis figured out he could land kicks as Moreno circled away, and head kicks started to land.
Pettis did his best work in the third frame, picking apart Moreno on the feet and opening a cut with a head kick. Gone was the smile on Moreno’s face as he bled and met diminishing returns with takedown attempts.
“His standup surprised me a lot,” Pettis said. “He gave me a different look. Kind of made me question my look, like an open style I had to adjust to.”
By the fourth round, Pettis no longer needed to fear the takedown. Moreno tried to make up some ground on the feet and instead caught more shots to the dome as sharp combinations cut off his wide attacks.
Told the fight was even by his corner, Moreno charged into a takedown in the final frame. He had his moment, yet he was unable to land any significant offense, and Pettis escaped to his feet, where he continued to control the stand-up action.
“I noticed he had his left hand down a lot, so I kept poking him with that jab,” Pettis said afterward. “He kept circling toward my left low kick, and I’ve got a funky switch-kick that I was catching him with. I just had to adjust my style, and it all worked out.”
Asked whom he’d like to take on next after taking out a fellow up-and-comer, Pettis deferred to the UFC in lieu of a title shot.
“I’ve got to wait for the higher powers to tell me what I want,” he said. “Obviously, I’d like a title shot, but there’s a lot of things I need to polish up to get there.”
UFC Fight Night 114 results include:
- Sergio Pettis def. Brandon Moreno via unanimous decision (49-46, 48-46, 48-46)
- Alexa Grasso def. Randa Markos via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Niko Price def. Alan Jouban via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 1:44
- Humberto Bandenay def. Martin Bravo via knockout (knee, punches) – Round 1, 0:26
- Sam Alvey def. Rashad Evans via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
- Alejandro Perez def. Andre Soukhamthath via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Jack Hermansson def. Bradley Scott via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 3:50
- Dustin Ortiz def. Hector Sandoval via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 0:15
- Rani Yahya def. Henry Briones via submission (kimura) – Round 1, 2:01
- Jose Quinonez def. Diego Rivas via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Joseph Morales def. Roberto Sanchez via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 3:56
- Jordan Rinaldi def. Alvaro Herrera via submission (Von Flue choke) – Round 1, 2:01
For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 114, check out the UFC Events section of the site.
(MMAjunkie’s John Morgan contributed to this report on site in Mexico City.)
[sigallery id=”veHjcXWmk75rPXbf9y4fF” title=”Pettis def. Moreno” type=”sigallery”]
