UFC 165 results and photos: Alex Caceres outworks Roland Delorme for split call

TORONTO – Alex Caceres’ fluid striking was the deciding factor in a close fight with Roland Delorme.

After a scare in the first frame, “Bruce Leeroy” found his range and peppered his opponent with punches en route to a split decision victory.

The bantamweight bout was part of today’s UFC 165 event at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre. It streamed on Facebook ahead of additional prelims on FOX Sports 1 and a main card on pay-per-view.

The official scores were 29-28 twice for Caceres while one judge dissented for Delorme with a score of 29-28.

At the end of three rounds, Caceres, a veteran of “The Ultimate Fighter 12,” had landed more significant strikes than Delorme, who found his greatest success in the first frame when he dropped Caceres with a punch and nearly earned a rear-naked choke submission.

As the fight went on, Delorme was increasingly unable to adjust to Caceres’ rhythm and took significant punishment trying to score in striking exchanges. Often moving backward, Caceres was able to pick at the “TUF 3? vet with jabs and hooks.

Delorme tried in vain to get the fight to the ground in the third round and wound up on top only when Caceres slipped on a kick in the waning moments of the bout.

“In the first round, he had a takedown, but it was a mistake on my part,” Caceres said. “I made sure it didn’t happen again in the second or third. I landed a lot of shots with my hands and my legs, too, and a couple on his forehead. Just looking at the damage done and the activity during the fight, I felt that this had to be mine.”

Caceres (9-5 MMA, 4-3 UFC) gets back on the winning track after his most recent fight, which ended in a split decision win over Kyung Ho Kang at UFC on FUEL TV 6, was overturned when he tested positive for marijuana. Delorme (9-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC) suffers the first official loss of his UFC career.

Up-to-the-minute UFC 165 results include:

• Alex Caceres def. Roland Delorme via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Daniel Omielanczuk def. Nandor Guelmino via KO (punches) – Round 3, 3:18

For complete coverage of UFC 165, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.

John Morgan, Ben Fowlkes and Mike Bohn contributed to this report on-site in Toronto.