UFC Fight Night 98 results: Marcin Held can't get submission game going, falls to Diego Sanchez

MEXICO CITY – Diego Sanchez rebounded from a rough first round to beat Marcin Held with a little help from his old friend – his own endless gas tank.

Sanchez (27-9 MMA, 16-9 UFC) dominated Held (22-5 MMA, 0-1 UFC) on the mat down the stretch, battering an exhausted Held en route to a unanimous decision victory.

The lightweight bout was the co-main event of today’s UFC Fight Night 98 event at Mexico City Arena in Mexico City. It aired on FS1 following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass.

Early on in the fight, Held seemed to be holding a distinct skill and speed advantage. He backed Sanchez up with punch combos, and threatened with a guillotine choke that forced Sanchez to fling himself off the fence in order to avoid.

What he couldn’t do was put Sanchez away, and that would prove to be his undoing against a fighter with superior cardio. Sanchez controlled Held on the floor for much of the next two rounds, at times after he initiated the grappling exchanges and at other points when Held tried to take the fight down.

No matter how they ended up there, however, it was to Sanchez’s benefit. As Held faded in the thin air, Sanchez poured on the strikes from top control, hammering a visibly fatigued Held with punches and elbows and shutting down all his leg lock attempts with ease.

In the end, it was an easy call for the judges, all three of whom scored it for Sanchez, turning in scores of 29-28, 29-28, and 29-27.

The victory gets Sanchez back in the win column after a TKO loss to Joe Lauzon at UFC 200. Held has now lost two of his last three.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 98 results include:

• Diego Sanchez def. Marcin Held via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-27)
• Ricardo Lamas def. Charles Oliveira via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 2, 2:13
• Martin Bravo def. Claudio Puelles via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 1:55
• Beneil Dariush def. Rashid Magomedov via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
• Alexa Grasso def. Heather Jo Clark via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
• Erik Perez def. Felipe Arantes via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Joe Soto def. Marco Beltran via submission (heel hook) – Round 1, 1:37
• Max Griffin def. Erick Montano via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 0:54
• Douglas Silva de Andrade def. Henry Briones via TKO (spinning backfist) – Round 3, 2:33
• Sam Alvey def. Alex Nicholson via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Marco Polo Reyes def. Jason Novelli via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Enrique Barzola def. Chris Avila via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-26)

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 98, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(MMAjunkie’s John Morgan and Fernanda Prates contributed to this report on site in Mexico City.)