UFC Fight Night 42 results, photos: Lance Benoist tops tired Bobby Voelker

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – What started as a spirited affair ended in a puddle of exhaustion as Lance Benoist (7-2 MMA, 2-2 UFC) did just enough to edge out Bobby Voelker (24-12 MMA, 0-4 UFC) via unanimous decision victory (29-28, 29-28, 30-27) in a fight that slowed to a fatigued crawl in the final round.

The welterweight bout was part of today’s UFC Fight Night 42 event at Tingley Coliseum in Albuquerque, N.M. It aired on FOX Sports 1 following a prelim on UFC Fight Pass and ahead of the main card on FOX Sports 1.

In retrospect, it was probably inevitable that at least one of the bouts in a city that’s more than a mile high would succumb to the effect of elevation. That appeared to be precisely what happened to Benoist and Voelker, as both men slowed down at almost the exact same rate, until they ended the bout doing very little aside from gulping air in deep, desperate gasps.

Fortunately for Benoist, he’d managed to do enough by that point, thanks largely to a grinding, top control-heavy approach, to earn the decision win over Voelker, who seemed a little too reliant on landing one big blow at a time, with little in the way of a back-up plan when that approach failed.

By the time this one was over, both fighters seemed relieved. So too did the Albuquerque crowd.

For Benoist, it marks the first victory since September of 2011. Voelker has now lost four in a row.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 42 results include:

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 42, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(John Morgan contributed to this report on-site in Albuquerque.)