Edwin Figueroa edges Alex Caceres thanks to two-point deduction



A rare two-point deduction for accidental low blows cost Alex Caceres a victory.

After twice connecting on the illegal shots, Caceres was deducted two points in the second round, and fellow bantamweight Edwin Figueroa squeaked by him for a dubious split-decision victory.

The preliminary-card bout was part of UFC 143 and aired on FX following additional prelims on Facebook. It preceded a pay-per-view main card at Las Vegas' Mandalay Bay Events Center.

Despite the win, Figueroa was in anything but a celebratory mood.

Caceres checked an early kick and briefly knocked Figueroa to the mat. But once back up, Figueroa took the full brunt of a low kick to the groin, and he immediately hit the canvas and rolled in obviously excruciating pain. But after a brief rest period, Figueroa slammed the mat and announced himself ready to continue.

On the restart, Caceres continued chipping away with kicks, but Figueroa blasted and dropped him with a clean right kick to the face. Figueroa pounced with follow-up shots, but Caceres amazingly survived. Then, after the fighters jockeyed for position, Caceres took his back, secured a body lock, and moved to mount, though Figueroa bucked free. Caceres reclaimed the position and continued working for the choke, but he was cut short by the end of an action-packed first round.

Caceres landed some effective front kicks and a head kick, and Figueroa returned fire to start off the second round in exciting fashion. But Caceres again landed an accidental kick to the junk, and Figueroa was given another timeout to recover. Figueroa opted to continue, but Caceres was deducted what proved to be a fight-altering two points. Caceres quickly pounced with strikes on the restart, got the fight to the mat, took Figueroa's back, and secured a body lock. He couldn't get the rear-naked choke, and a triangle-choke also came up short. Figueroa, though, got the round 9-8 due to the two-point deduction.

In the final round, after some initial standup, Caceres worked a standing rear-naked choke before Figueroa shot forward to try to peal him off. Caceres, though, remained on his back and continued working for the choke while on the mat, but Figueroa escaped and took top position. He then delivered some heavy punches, but Caceres pulled him close to avoid damage and wait out the end of the fight.

The deduction proved the difference maker, and Figueroa got the split decision via 28-27, 27-28 and 28-27 and scores. (Without the point deductions, Caceres would have earned earned a 29-28, 30-27 and 29-28 unanimous-decision victory.)

"I felt like it was a hard-earned paycheck," Figueroa said. "He was a good fighter. I had to dig deep for this one. He came out and landed a few shots early. It was a tough fight, but I came out the winner."

Caceres, who was seemingly unaware of the deductions, didn't concur on that last point.

"I don't know what happened," he said. "I thought I had that one. I guess they took points away from the low blow I delivered, but I didn't take that much damage. I'm very disappointed."

Figueroa (9-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) now has won two straight since a UFC-debut loss to Michael McDonald. Caceres (6-5 MMA, 1-3 UFC) falls to a meager 1-3 in the UFC.