UFC 192 results: Yair Rodriguez sweeps Daniel Hooker, despite likely broken foot

Yair Rodriguez

HOUSTON – Yair Rodriguez was a whirlwind of activity in outstriking Daniel Hooker to take a unanimous decision at UFC 192 – despite what appeared to be a broken foot he said he suffered in the early part of the fight.

The featherweight bout closed out the preliminary card of today’s UFC 192 event at Toyota Center in Houston. It aired on FOX Sports 1 following additional prelims on UFC Fight Pass and ahead of a main card on pay-per-view.

The early part of Round 1 was spent with the fighters circling and barely engaging before Rodriguez (6-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) unloaded with leg kicks and wild spinning kicks that kept Hooker (12-6 MMA, 2-2 UFC) on his back foot. After more varied striking from Rodriguez, Hooerk attempted to score a takedown only to find himself nearly in a guillotine choke before being thrown to the canvas.

Hooker found his way back to his feet quickly and pinned Rodriguez’s back to the cage. Rodriguez kept the pressure on Hooker with a constant threat of a trip takedonw or some heavy strikes to the end of Round 1.

Rodriguez cracked Hooker with a spinning back elbow early in Round 2, forcing the taller fighter to once again close distance and clinch against the cage. Rodriguez attempted to roll through the clinch and secure a kneebar. While the lock wasn’t there, he was able to utilize the threat to get back to his feet at striking distance.

As if not content to confine himself to the standard striking of an MMA bout Rodriguez landed something reminiscent of Japanese pro-wrestler Jushin “Thunder” Liger’s “rolling thunder kick,” catching Hooker and stunning him once again. Hooker was not deterred by the unorthodox onslaught, however, and continued trying to pressure forward and find some sort of success. It was Rodriguez who executed a near-perfect takedown to close the second round.

Hooker opened Round 3 by landing a knee directly to the cup of Rodriguez. After the foul recovery, Hooker tried for a takedown only to almost end up in a kneebar. While he survived the hold, Hooker was cut by an elbow off the bottom.

The two men traded hammerfists in a flurry while tangled in an awkward position on the ground. Despite the strange flurry of activity, the fighters were stood up by the referee who wanted the cuts on the face of Hooker checked by the doctor who instructed the referee to “let ’em go.”

Rodriguez missed with one last sommersault kick to end the fight but took the fight on the scorecards with scores of 30-27, 30-27, 30-26.

Rodriguez entered the fight on a three-fight winning streak, most recently defeating Charles Rosa by split decision at UFC 188 in Jun.

Hooker defeated Hatsu Hioki by KO in his most recent bout at UFC Fight Night 65 after tagging him with a head kick.

Up-to-the-minute UFC 192 results include:

• Yair Rodriguez def. Daniel Hooker via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
• Albert Tumenov def. Alan Jouban via TKO (kick, punches) – Round 1, 2:55
• Adriano Martins def. Islam Makhachev via knockout (punch) – Round 1, 1:46
• Rose Namajunas def. Angela Hill via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 2:47
• Sage Northcutt def. Francisco Trevino via TKO (elbows) – Round 1, 0:50
• Sergio Pettis def. Chris Cariaso via unanimous decision (29-27, 29-27, 29-28)
• Derrick Lewis def. Viktor Pesta via TKO (punches) – Round 3, 1:15

For complete coverage of UFC 192, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(MMAjunkie’s John Morgan and Matt Erickson contributed to this report on site in Houston.)