New Jersey native Jimmie Rivera pulled off the unanimous decision victory over Iuri Alcantara at UFC on FOX 18.
Jimmie Rivera had the pressure of fighting in front of a home crowd on Fox against a veteran fighter in Iuri Alcantara. The New Jersey native was looking for the big victory to extend his UFC record to a perfect 3-0.
The fight opened with a very aggressive Rivera backing Alcantara against the cage with feints. Alcantara kept the distance with the kicks and feints, doing a good job at dodging Rivera’s punches and catching his kicks. Rivera was able to get through with several hard punches, but Alcanatara did a good job of rolling with the punches and deflecting the punches. The first round ended with a big takedown attempt from Rivera, picking up Alcantara and slamming him to the mat right before the horn sounded.
In the second round, Rivera caught Alcantara with a big punch against the cage, which stunned Alcantara for a split second. Rivera continued to land hard punches while pressuring Alcantara against the cage. After clinching against the cage for a couple of minutes, the referee separated them and brought them to the middle. Moments later, Alcantara dropped Rivera with a straight right hand. Rivera popped right back up and responded with a quick takedown before the round ended.
In the third round, more of the same occurred as Rivera pressured Alcantara, who was doing a better job at moving out of the way of punches. Towards the middle of the third round, Alcantara threw a series of kicks to the body of Rivera that had Rivera retreating. The two fighters continued to exchange with Rivera controlling the center of the cage and being the aggressor. In a wild sequence, Alcantara dropped Rivera with a straight punch, but Rivera popped back up and got the takedown, which was reversed with a kimura attempt by Alcantara until both fighters were back to their feet. Both fighters exchanged with wild punches until the horn sounded.
Jimmie Rivera def Iuri Alcantara by unanimous decision (29-28 x3)