MEXICO CITY — Cathal Pendred continues to rack up the wins, although he doesn’t seem to be gaining fans at the same pace.
The Dublin-based teammate of Conor McGregor grinded his way to a victory over local favorite Augusto Montano in a welterweight bout on Saturday night at UFC 188. The judges scores were 29-28 across the board, as Pendred went to 4-0 in the UFC and 11-0-1 in his past 12.
The opening round saw little in the way of action, as Montano circled on the outside and Pendred rarely moved in, opting at one point to drop his arms and dare Montano to come at him.
In round two, Montano dropped Pendred with his only real strike of note during the fight. But Pendred popped back to his feet, clinched Montano, and spent most of the round wearing Montano down with his wrestling and grappling.
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It was more of the same in round three, as Montano outwrestled Montano over the first half of the round, then, after Pendred got back to his feet, neither fighter did much in the standup the rest of the way. The crowd at Arena Ciudad de Mexico jeered both fighters when it ended.
Pendred improved to 17-2-1 with his 10th career decision; Montano dropped to 15-2 and 1-1 in the UFC.