For the first time in it’s history the Ultimate Fighting Championship made a stop in Utah as Vivint Smart Home Arena played host to Fight Night 92 Saturday evening in Salt Lake City.
Though the card provided a high level of action through most of the night, the evening seemed to belong to Utah native and UFC welterweight Court McGee.
Going toe-to-toe with Dominique Steele in the final fight on the evening’s prelims, McGee improved his MMA record to 19-5 with a unanimous decision victory. The three judges scored the fight in McGee’s favor 30-27, 29-28, and 29-28.
“It’s hard to explain how I felt. I think I did the best that I could tonight. It felt absolutely incredible,” said McGee after the win. “I’ve got a decade in this fight game and it’s every MMA fighters dream to make it to the big show and when the big show comes to Utah and to get the victory is just incredible.”
Entering the cage second, McGee immediately brought the crowd to it’s feet. Capitalizing on the momentum early McGee sent Steele to the canvas with a solid right hook just seconds into the bout.
Despite the quick start McGee absorbed multiple strikes from Steele in the second round, and suffered a cut over his right eye, which required seven stitches. After the second round seemed to favor Steele, McGee bounced back in the third and controlled the majority of the fight the rest of the way.
“His heart surprised me. I felt like I had him right off the bat and then he just came right back. Felt like I had him and then he came right back again,” McGee said of his opponent Steele. “He had an incredible heart and drive and determination to keep on going which was very impressive.”
Yair Rodriguez earned a split decision victory over Alex Caceres in the evening’s main event. Though sloppy at times, the final fight of the night provided plenty of excitement and highly athletic moves from both fighters.
In the end two ringside judges ruled the fight in favor of Rodriguez 48-47, while the third scored in favor of Caceres 49-46. Rodriguez nearly doubled Caceres in strikes landing 120 compared to just 62.
“I feel pretty good being my first time going five rounds. I feel more calm and relaxed,” said Rodriguez following the win. “Now I know how to breathe. Out there sometimes I just go crazy. This time I was thinking more and was more calm in there. It was amazing and a great fight. I am very happy to be here.”
Roughly 7,000 spectators were in attendance for Saturday’s event. Below is the complete results from all 12 fights.
Justin Ledet def. Chase Sherman (Unanimous Decision)
Cub Swanson def. Tatsuya Kawajiri (Unanimous Decision)
Teruto Ishihara def. Horacio Gutierrez (1st Round TKO)
David Teymur def. Jason Novelli (2nd Round TKO)
Marcin Tybura def. Viktor Pesta (2nd Round KO)
Court McGee def. Dominique Steele (Unanimous Decision)
Maryna Moroz def. Danielle Taylor (Split Decision)
Trevor Smith def. Joe Gigliotti (Unanimous Decision)
Santiago Ponzinibbio def. Zak Cummings (Unanimous Decision)
Thales Leites def. Chris Camozzi (3rd round submission)
Dennis Bermudez def. Rony Jason (Unanimous Decision)
Yair Rodriguez def. Alex Caceres (Unanimous Decision)