Edwin Figueroa writhes in agony after catching a low blow from Alex Caceres at UFC 143. Photo by Esther Lin for MMA Fighting.
Edwin Figueroa picked up a unanimous decision win over Alex Cacares on the preliminary card of UFC in a bizarre but entertaining fight. Cacares landed two brutal shots to the groin and Herb Dean took not one but two points from Bruce Leeroy, which was the difference in the fight. Figueroa badly hurt Cacares with a head kick in the first round, but spent the rest of the bout with Cacares on his back, looking for a choke. Nonetheless, Figueroa extends his win streak to two and Cacares must be wondering what just happened. The final scores were 28-27, 27-28, and 28-27 for Figueroa.
Cacares came out looking loose and landed a few shots early, but then it quickly took a turn for the worse when Cacares landed a low shot directly to Figueroa's cup. It was so hard you could actually hear the impact. Figueroa was very hurt from the shot, and he took a long time trying to recover. He did though, and the bout resumed.
Figueroa looked to be pressing more, but Cacares responded well and landed a bunch of shots. Figueroa turned it around with a huge head kick that dropped Cacares though, and he pounced on him looking to finish. Cacares held on and managed to get back to his feet, and managed to jump on Figueroa's back and lock in a rear naked choke. He was too high and had hooks though, and Figueroa slipped out. The same sequence repeated two more times, with Cacares briefly getting mount twice as well, but he was unable to finish before the end of the round.
Cacares opened the second with a nice front kick to the face, which appears to get Figueroa fired up. He started coming forward a lot more, but ended up eating a big kick from Bruce Leeroy. Unfortunately, Cacares landed another low blow and Figueroa was clearly hurt again. Edwin took close to his whole allotted five minutes, but managed to find the will to continue once again. Referee Herb Dean took two points away from Cacares for the shot, and the fight continued. Cacares knew he probably needed a finish now with the point deduction, so he went all out with kicks and strikes. Cacares got Figueroa down and took his back again, looking for the choke. Despite latching on a body triangle again, Alex was unable to sink in the choke. Figueroa reversed with 30 seconds to go, and Cacares looked for armbars and triangles, but there was nothing there.
Figueroa started the third stanza well, landing a couple of punches and a leg kick that briefly tripped up Bruce Leeroy. Both fighters exchanged strikes for a while, with Cacares looking for flashy stuff and Figueroa throwing leg kicks and hard rights. Cacares got Figueroa's back again, looking on a body triangle while the fighters were standing. Like the first two rounds, Cacares continually looked for the choke but couldn't find it. Cacares looked for an armbar which allowed Figueroa to reverse and land some shots on the ground. Alex continually looked for a triangle, but couldn't lock it up. Out of nowhere, Figueroa dropped for a kneebar, but that gave Cacares his back again. The fight ended there.
The 23-year-old Cacares entered this bout coming off his first UFC win, a unanimous decision over Cole Escovedo at UFC on Fox. He was looking to make it 2-0 at bantamweight. Figueroa was 1-1 in the UFC coming into the bout, his win coming over Jason Reinhardt and his loss being a fight of the night performance against Michael McDonald.
0 recs | 27 comments
it is about time the ball kickers start losing points
dbcb - February 4, 2012
Bullshit
2 points is crazy. I have never seen a ref take two points away at one time for anything. They were clearly accidental. Herb Dean just took a win away from Bruce Leroy.
b2tharad - February 4, 2012
Agreed
Never heard of 2 points at once. That was harsh.
Quick Ben - February 4, 2012
a round later too.
some bullshit
inthepipes - February 4, 2012
Herb's a good ref...
….but that was a pure bullshit move by him., two points is a crap call by a supposed top ref.
Snake_Pliskan - February 5, 2012
i don't care if it was accidental
the ball kicking needs to stop. If you can throw a kick without bustin balls then stop throwing kicks.
Fuck the warnings from now on. Ball kick = point gone. Grab the cage = point gone. All this warning shit is bullshit.
dbcb - February 4, 2012
It was an accident and much of it had to do with Figueroa's stance
sun yue - February 4, 2012
I think you've got it backwards.
If you can’t defend your groin, you shouldn’t be in the cage. Just my opinion, but there should be nothing illegal about a groin shot. No worse than a liver shot, a head shot, etc. as far as health concerns go. And it is the only organ which gets protection.
icastico - February 4, 2012
What the fuck are you talking about?
The way that idiot was standing he will get hit in the nuts 2-3 times a fight.
potato623 - February 4, 2012
Once is an accident
Twice is a pattern.
WheelieMonkey - February 5, 2012
accurate title is accurate
what a weird fight indeed.
mollcutpurse - February 4, 2012
I’ve been watching combat sports for 30 years and have never seen a ref jump straight to 2 points. You can dislike his personality , but Bruce Leroy was robbed. He is WAY better then 97% of the fans thought he was.
Hutchy - February 4, 2012 via mobile
I didn’t see the fight but 2 points sounds excessive imo.
Sean Bakhtiar - February 4, 2012
They were vicious shots but look at Bruce Leroy’s crazy style. He was winning when he landed them, they obviously weren’t intentional
Hutchy - February 4, 2012 via mobile
If it was intentional I would understand….but if it was an accident even deducting 1 point would have been harsh.
Sean Bakhtiar - February 4, 2012
Well, ball shots are always unintentional. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get point deductions for them.
Tim Burke - February 4, 2012
If he had taken a point the first time and the second time..
I would have no problem with this. Its the taking two points at the same time I find dumb.
b2tharad - February 4, 2012
2 points is bullshit Plus...
fucking lenard garcia decision of the night
Figueroa looked like some shit. he lost every round and gets a gift(robbery) decision.
Getting mounted and sub attempt after sub attempt by alex wins him the first round easy. people shouldn’t get so carried away by 1 kick.
inthepipes - February 4, 2012
people shouldn't get carried away by failed sub attempts
dbcb - February 4, 2012
he was owning him on the ground dude.
are you Figueroas dad or something? The bruce leroy hate is strong in you.
b2tharad - February 4, 2012
You are an idiot man
He mounted him 3 times in the fight. Got back control 4 times in the fight. The dude has no ground game whatsoever, bullshit decision
potato623 - February 4, 2012
What else is there to judge?
People don’t want takedowns to count, they don’t want position to count…
WheelieMonkey - February 5, 2012
Wooo
Bruce shuttin people up again. 2 points was too much. Figgy looked like garbage (because of the kicks?) but this is the second straight legit fighter bruce did this too. Not a world beater but he’s good. Dana might see this as a win for Leeroy.
cager - February 4, 2012
If Figueroa actually won a round I'd be okay with it, but he didn't.
He didn’t win, Caceres lost.
sun yue - February 4, 2012
this
and to dbcb. failed sub attempts should be counted as attempts to finish the fight. something alex was closer to in rounds 1,2, and 3
inthepipes - February 4, 2012
Bruce LeeRoy should have been DQ'd on that second Low Blow
I was really surprised that Figueroa decided to continue on. I thought Herb Dean kind of forced the dude to continue that fight.
Bottom line is that justice was served.
aaronb - February 6, 2012
Herb deducted 1 point for each nut Alex hemorrhaged.
Dev93L - February 4, 2012
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