UFC 175 results, photos: Urijah Faber chokes out Alex Caceres in third

LAS VEGAS – Alex Caceres (10-6 MMA, 5-4 UFC) succeeded several times in keeping Urijah Faber (31-7 MMA, 7-3 UFC) from taking him to the mat. But when he failed to protect his neck, he was forced to tap out.

After struggling to take his younger opponent down, a relentless Faber took Caceres’ back and sunk in a rear-naked choke.

The bantamweight bout closed out the preliminary card of today’s UFC 175 event at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. It aired on FOX Sports 1 following additional prelims on UFC Fight Pass and ahead of a main card on pay-per-view.

The stoppage came at the 1:09 mark of the third, when Caceres used his free arm to submit. In a slick move, Faber had maneuvered his hands into choke position and trapped Caceres’ other arm to prevent him from defending.

As the fight progressed, Caceres got better at resisting Faber’s attempts to take the fight to the ground. An initial attempt from the former WEC champ was stuffed, and subsequent trips to the mat did not keep him there for long.

A lead uppercut in the second frame was Caceres’ lone bright spot. But the veteran of “The Ultimate Fighter 12? spent most of his time simply trying to free himself from Faber’s clutches.

After a disappointing setback in a rematch with now-former champ Renan Barao, Faber, who is ranked No. 3 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA bantamweight rankings, is back in the win column after his third attempt to win the UFC bantamweight belt. Caceres, an honorable mention, sees a 4-0 streak (with one no contest) halted by Faber.

Up-to-the-minute UFC 175 results include:

For complete coverage of UFC 175, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.

(John Morgan, Matt Erickson and Mike Bohn contributed to this report on-site in Las Vegas.)