Urijah Faber proved once again to be unbeatable in non-title fights, as he submitted Alex Caceres in the featured preliminary bout at UFC 175 in Las Vegas Saturday.
Faber (31-7) outclassed his opponent, landing five takedowns throughout the bout before taking his opponent’s back and locking in a rear-naked choke early in the third round of their 135-pound contest.
“The California Kid” bounced back from a TKO loss to Renan Barao at UFC 169 in February to improve to a perfect 20-0 when there’s no belt on the line.
The 35-year-old now has 13 finishes in his UFC/WEC career, which is just one spot behind Anderson Silva for the most stoppages of all-time.
Caceres (10–6, 1 NC) was on a five-fight unbeaten streak, but was unable to pull off the upset. Five of the the 26-year-old’s six losses have been by submission — three of those were rear-naked chokes.
PROGRAMMING NOTE: Watch the entire live TUF 19 Finale Sunday starting at 7 p.m. EST on Sportsnet 360.
In other preliminary action, Rob Font put an exclamation mark on his UFC debut, knocking out veteran George Roop with a massive right hand in the first round of their bantamweight encounter.
Font (11-1) has won nine straight bouts, while Roop (15-11-1) has lost two of his last three fights. Four of Roop’s last five losses have been by knockout.
GIF courtesy @Internetican
In the opening bout of the night, TUF 17 veteran Kevin Casey made quick work of UFC newcomer Bubba Bush. Casey, the son-in-law of Muhammad Ali, landed a big left hand that dropped Bush early before following up with a vicious flurry of elbows that finished the fight.
Also on the prelims: TUF 7 veteran Luke Zachrich defeated Guilherme Vasconcelos by unanimous decision to pick up his first UFC win; Bruno Santos earned a split decision win over Chris Camozzi; Kenny Robertson had a clean sweep of the scorecards in his welterweight tilt with Ildemar Alcantara.
