Daniel Marcos(15-0) fights this weekend at UFC Fight Night: Cannonier Vs Imavov. He takes on John Castañeda(21-6). I’ve decided to study some of his fights.
He got his first shot at the UFC on the Contender Series against Brandon Lewis(6-1). Early in the fight, Marcos lands a front kick that wobbles Lewis and causes him to shoot for a takedown out of desperation, but Marcos shows good cage defence and gets it back to the middle of the cage. In this fight, Marcos had a good game plan of leg kicks, which stopped Lewis from being able to try many things or set anything up, as his lead leg was practically gone. Marcos did get taken down but was able to get back up quickly and continue his offence. Marcos would hurt Lewis numerous times with a well-timed front kick to the chin, but Lewis showed an impressive chin not to get finished by them. Marcos continues to hurt Lewis to the leg and wins by decision. Marcos looked really impressive in this fight with his kicks. Against most other fighters he probably gets the stoppage.
His first official fight under the UFC banner was against Saimon Oliveira(18-4) at UFC 283. Oliveira is a step up in competition compared to Brandon Lewis as Oliveira is willing to throw leg kicks with Marcos as well as use takedowns as a threat. Marcos spends a good amount of the round with his back to the cage but shows impressive defence as he doesn’t get taken down and even lands some great knees in close. In the last minute of round 1, Oliveira gets tired, which allows Marcos to take over and control the rest of the round with some nice flurries of strikes. In round 2, Marco’s pressure makes Oliveira fight silly with tons of spinning back fist attempts, which Marcos makes sure to correct with kicks to the body. Marcos continues to dig to Oliveira’s body, which hurts him and leads to the finish with a knee to the body. Marcos survived early pressure from Oliveira and implemented his game of kicks and pressure to make Oliveira uncomfortable, leading to mistakes which helped Marcos land knees to the body for the finish.
The next fight I will discuss is his fight with Davey Grant(13-6) at UFC Fight Night: Aspinall vs. Tybura. Davey Grant is a tough fight for any bantamweight, which made for a good test for Marcos. The first round was close, with Grant being active and going for flurries to land big strikes, which is what he likes to do. Marcos fought smart with his leg kicks as he usually does and was making reads on Grant. It was a close round, but I feel Grant, for his activity, took it, but Marcos was building for later into the fight. Marcos starts round two, landing a nice right hook-slip-left hook on Grant, which made him react. Marcos Jab was persistent in this round, with him using it when Grant would over-extend doing something adventurous and causing Grant’s nose to start bleeding. In the second round, you saw more of what Marcos does with him landing his leg kicks, which causes Grant to spin around sometimes, and his jab was great and landing repeatably. I gave the round to Marcos for landing what I considered the more damaging strikes. The third round is similar to the first round, with Marcos fighting smart behind his jab and leg kicks and Grant trying to push the pace and get a finish. Similar to the first round, I would say Grant probably wins the round, but again, I think depending on how you watched both rounds 1 and 3, you could make a case for either to get each round. Marcos won the fight via split decision, which I was not against, but I felt Grant could have won it as well. This fight was a learning experience for Marcos as he needs to know when to turn up the pace against a guy like Grant who knows how to win rounds as well and pressures him.
His most recent fight was against Aoriqileng(25-11) at UFC Fight Night: Hermansson Vs Pyfer. Marcos starts the fight by landing a nice double-jab right hand, which puts Aoriqileng off balance for a second. Marcos continues his kicking game, which brings him most of his success in fights. It seemed to be a part of his game plan to use a double-jab to enter into Aoriqileng’s guard and then throw the right hand off it as he does it a few times and lands nicely. Marcos landed a nice knee off the clinch that gets Aoriqileng’s nose to bleed. Marcos times a nice uppercut when he sees Aoriqileng start to duck near the end of the first round. Marcos fought round 1 smart and was able to land some good strikes. Marcos starts the second round strong with a leg kick, buckling Aoriqileng. Marcos tries to finish the fight, but Aoriqileng survives. Marcos throws a front kick that lands low and causes a stop in the fight as it is illegal. Within 15 seconds of the fight starting again, Aoriqileng lands low and causes a halt to the fight. Once the fight resumes, Aoriqileng goes for a flying knee while Marcos is throwing a front kick, which lands on the cup. Aoriqileng can’t continue, so the fight ends as a No Contest. Marcos was looking good in this Fight, which is a shame that it ended due to a low blow.
His next fight is against John Castañeda in a fight I believe will be a fun scrap between two guys who are smart and know how to win fights so I imagine it will have some nice moments of skill from either fighter. I would say I’m leaning towards Marcos, but Castañeda is a legitimate opponent.