UFC on Fox: LI's Dennis Bermudez gets first UFC win
Dennis Bermudez, a mixed martial artist from Massapequa, during a training session at Long Island MMA in Lindenhurst. He is a contestant on Season 14 of "The Ultimate Fighter." (Sept. 22, 2011) Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Dennis Bermudez faced a seven-inch height disadvantage against Pablo Garza in his UFC on Fox 3 featherweight bout Saturday night at the Izod Center.
That's seven inches from head to toe, the latter being the most important difference. Garza's length was something Bermudez looked to overcome immediately. He landed his first punch, a big right, then moved in for the double-leg takedown and accompanying slam.
"He's got a big reach advantage on me," Bermudez said. "We were looking to close that."
It was a pattern that Bermudez, the upstate wrestler now living in Massapequa and fighting out of Lindenhurst, would continue for the rest of the fight, mainly with success. Shoot, double-leg, slam, takedown.
He rode that strategy to a unanimous decision victory over Garza, thus ending his three-fight losing streak. The fight ended with Bermudez holding Garza in a rear naked choke hold for about 20 seconds. Garza was able to fight off the submission. All three judges scored the bout, 30-27, in favor of Bermudez.
“Garza is a great fighter, but I came to make my mark in UFC and prove I’m not just a flash in the pan from 'TUF,' Bermudez said. "Wrestling is my go-to, but he kept hitting me from a distance and I wasn’t able to get inside like I wanted to. But you can’t win a fight backing up, so I kept pushing and pushing and putting him on the defensive. Losing is not acceptable and if I want a win, I’m going to go out and take it just like I did tonight.”
It was Bermudez's first win in the UFC, with his only other fight being a loss in the Season 14 "Ultimate Fighter" finale against Diego Brandao.
From his back, Garza tagged Bermudez with a series of upkicks midway through the first round. Bloodied from the kicks, Bermudez eventually got out of the way of Garza's long legs, and added another pair of slams and takedowns. Bermudez (9-3) required eight stitches in his upper lip from those upkicks.
“I should have tried to stand up with him instead of attacking from the guard," Garza said. "The slams weren’t doing a ton of damage, but that last one took a little out of me. Dennis did everything I expected, I just didn’t execute my game plan like I needed to.”
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