UFC Fight Night 123 results: Brian Ortega has brilliant jiu-jitsu display, taps out Cub Swanson

The book on Brian Ortega is if he gets your neck, it’s pretty much game over. Cub Swanson found that out Saturday night.

Swanson (25-8 MMA, 10-4 UFC) was having some success in the standup game against Ortega (13-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC), but when Ortega latched onto his next in the second round with a brilliant guillotine choke, Swanson had to tap at the 3:22 mark of the round.

The bout was the main event of today’s UFC Fight Night 123 event at Save Mart Center in Fresno, Calif. It aired on FS1 following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass.

The feeling-out process was a fairly lengthy one. Neither fighter took many chances in the first half of the opening frame. But both fighters started to work their boxing after thatSwanson got aggressive, and Ortega backed away. Swanson outworked Ortega in the standup game, but with 20 seconds left Ortega got inside and locked up a choke. He took it to the ground, and it was tight. Swanson looked like he was in trouble, but had to just survive to get to the horn. He made it and likely was saved by the bell.

Ortega looked confident to open the second. Swanson tried to put together combinations and landed, but Ortega didn’t go away and consistenly was right in Swanson’s face, marching him down. Midway through, Swanson got some heavy leather through, and Ortega answered with a left kick to the face. Ortega clinched Swanson up on the fence and landed a knee, but Swanson countered with a right uppercut.

With two minutes left, Ortega got Swanson’s neck again and jumped guard. Swanson refused to go down. He wrapped Swanson up, and jumped to adjust his grip. It was a perfect technical moment, and seconds later Swanson had no choice but to tap to the brilliant guillotine.

“I tried to wrap up, and I felt like it was slipping and he was going to throw me off. Once I re-wrapped, I knew I had it,” Ortega said. “Every single fight of my UFC career has been a finish. I feel like I’ve been a dark horse. I have a more humble approach – that’s who I am. … I’m trying to get the attention of someone who has a lot of money so I can do some charity work. I’m using the UFC as a platform to let the world know that’s what I want to do. That’s my real dream besides the UFC belt.”

Ortega stayed perfect at 13-0. Swanson had a four-fight winning streak snapped with the loss.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 123 results include:

• Brian Ortega def. Cub Swanson via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 2, 3:22
• Gabriel Benitez def. Jason Knight via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 29-27)
• Marlon Moraes def. Aljamain Sterling via knockout (knee) – Round 1, 1:07
• Scott Holtzman def. Darrell Horcher via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Eryk Anders def. Markus Perez via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-25, 29-28)
• Benito Lopez def. Albert Morales via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
• Alexis Davis def. Liz Carmouche via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Andre Soukhamthath def. Luke Sanders via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 1:06
• Alex Perez def. Carls John de Tomas via submission (D’Arce choke) – Round 2, 1:54
• Frankie Saenz def. Merab Dvalishvili via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Alejandro Perez def. Iuri Alcantara via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
• Davi Ramos def. Chris Gruetzemacher via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 3, 0:50
• Trevin Giles def. Antonio Braga Neto via TKO (punches) – Round 3, 2:27

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 123, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(MMAjunkie’s John Morgan contributed to this report on site in Fresno.)