Paul Felder says Mario Bautista cemented his place as a top contender at UFC Fight Night 266.
Bautista (17-3 MMA, 11-3 UFC) handed Vinicius Oliveira (23-4 MMA, 4-1 UFC) his first octagon loss when he submitted him with a second-round rear-naked choke in Saturday’s main event at the Meta APEX in Las Vegas.
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Oliveira said he planned on ridding the bantamweight division of the “boring” Bautista, but Felder thinks the 32-year-old proved otherwise.
“There was absolutely nothing boring about that,” Felder told CBS. “Listen, I think we all thought it was going to be a bit more back-and-forth in this main event between these two bantamweights, but Bautista proved why he’s in the top 10, why he’s faced the caliber of opponents that he has faced so far, and I’ve got to be honest: He made it look pretty easy out there.
“His wrestling, his jiu-jitsu were absolutely on point. We knew that he was a fantastic grappler coming into this fight, but the fact that he was able to get crucifix, batter him with elbows, then seamlessly take the back after that beautiful sweep that he landed – I mean, he looked like championship material out there tonight.”
Bautista rebounded from his unanimous decision loss to Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC 321. The setback to Nurmagomedov snapped his eight-fight winning streak.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Paul Felder heaps praise on Mario Bautista’s UFC Fight Night 266 win
