Yaotzin Meza
KRAKOW, Poland – Yaotzin Meza survived at least one near submission and applied several close ones of his own in a spirited bout with Damian Stasiak.
In the end, Meza (21-9 MMA, 2-2 UFC) used top control and relentless pressure to wear Stasiak (8-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC) down en route to a unanimous decision victory (30-27, 29-28, 29-28).
The featherweight bout was part of the preliminary card of today’s UFC Fight Night 64 event at Tauron Arena in Krakow, Poland. It streamed on UFC Fight Pass.
Much to the dismay of Stasiak’s corner, which urged him to “fight standing up,” this fight turned out to be mostly a ground battle. That turned out to favor Meza in the end, allowing him to avoid the stinging body kick from Stasiak which had him hurt at several points early on in the bout.
Stasiak’s best shot at ending the fight came after one such kick stunned Meza and led to him giving up his back. Stasiak saw the opening and locked on a choke, squeezing so hard at one point that Meza seemed on the verge of losing consciousness, but the American fighter managed to gut it out until the horn, buying himself another round to work.
That one scare behind him, Meza managed to suffocate Stasiak on the mat for the majority of the third, maintaining top control and threatening with the occasional submission as he peppered Stasiak with punches. Stasiak proved to be a game fighter, but he couldn’t seize control of the action in what was likely the deciding round. Meza never let up and never gave Stasiak a chance to get back into the fight down the stretch, resulting in an easy decision for the judges.
“I knew that I would come in and have a tough fight with this young kid who is from here, you know,” Meza said following his victory. “I knew the crowd was going to be against me. But I fed off their boos. So we went in there and we got to it, you know. I was a little stronger in the beginning but then he was able to change that fight a little bit towards the end of the first round. My corner kept on telling me, keep on pushing, you know. He hit me with two spinning kicks that hit me well in the belly. It hurt me but I had to keep my poker face on. I kept pushing forward and I was able to secure some takedowns and I was able to stay on top and control it from the top.
“This was a last minute fight, so I’m going to take a bit of a rest now. I’ve been training so hard for the last six months just to even get a call up. So I’m going to spend some time with my boys and from there we will see when Sean Shelby calls. Hopefully Mexico City, you know. I would love to fight there as that’s where I’m from. I came here with two weeks notice to Poland, so I look forward to doing a full camp next time.”
With the win, Meza gets his first victory since July of 2013. Stasiak loses for the first time in six outings.
Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 64 results include:
- Yaotzin Meza def. Damian Stasiak via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
- Anthony Hamilton def. Daniel Omielanczuk via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-27)
- Alexandra Albu def. Izabela Badurek via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 2, 3:34
- Stevie Ray def. Marcin Bandel via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 1:35
- Taylor Lapilus def. Rocky Lee via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 64, check out the UFC Events section of the site.
(MMAjunkie’s John Morgan contributed to this report on site in Krakow.)
