UFC 159 results/photos: Cody McKenzie cruises by Leonard Garcia

NEWARK, N.J. – Cody McKenzie wasted no time getting Leonard Garcia to the mat in the opening seconds of their bout on Saturday night, and for the majority of the fight, that’s exactly where they stayed.

McKenzie dominated Garcia with takedowns and superior grappling en route to a unanimous-decision victory (29-28, 30-27, 30-27).

The featherweight bout was part of the preliminary card of today’s UFC 159 event at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. It streamed on Facebook ahead of additional prelims on FX and a main card on pay-per-view.

Garcia was fortunate to escape several close submission attempts in the first round as McKenzie took his back and went in search of various chokes in between onslaughts of punches. A triangle-choke attempt by McKenzie late in the round seemed like it might seal the deal, but the clock ran out before Garcia’s consciousness did.

Garcia’s best chance came in the third, when McKenzie consented to stand and strike after clearly winning the first two rounds on the ground. Even then, Garcia’s wild haymakers weren’t enough to put McKenzie in any real trouble, and “The Ultimate Fighter 12? cast member rode to a victory on the judges’ scorecards.

Garcia (15-11-1 MMA, 2-7 UFC) has now lost five straight in the UFC, with his last victory coming in December of 2010 via a controversial split decision over Nam Phan. McKenzie (14-3 MMA, 3-3 UFC) bounces back into the win column after his first-round TKO loss to Chad Mendes at UFC 148.

Up-to-the-minute UFC 159 results include:

• Cody McKenzie def. Leonard Garcia via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
• Steven Siler def. Kurt Holobaugh via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

For complete coverage of UFC 159, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.

Matt Erickson and Steven Marrocco contributed to this report on-site in Newark.