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Junior welterweight prospect Kendo Castaneda stayed unbeaten tonight in his hometown of San Antonio, Tex., beating veteran Eudy Bernardo by wide unanimous decision in a UFC Fight Pass main event.
Castaneda (16-0, 7 KO) won on scores of 97-93, 98-92, and 99-91. Bernardo falls to 24-4 (18 KO) with the loss.
Castaneda looked solid for the most part, but Bernardo did spoil him a bit now and again, and made it a mostly competitive fight. The scores weren’t necessarily wide, but Bernardo was perhaps a bit more in it than they might make it seem.
“I felt a little sloppy, honestly. I wanted to knock him out because my boy Mario Barrios knocked him out, but he came ready,” Castaneda said after the fight. “He wasn’t an easy target tonight. He didn’t have a weak chin, he was taking some big shots. I gotta give it up to him, he surprised me tonight.”
Castaneda, 25, will look to go on from here and try to make a mark in what is a very strong 140-pound division, with a lot of young and in-prime talent at the top.
Johnny Arellano SD-8 Xavier Wilson
A minor upset, and an extremely controversial decision, too. Scores were 78-73 Wilson (10-1-1, 1 KO), which seemed about right, and then two judges had it 76-75 for Arellano (10-1, 9 KO). Arellano was down in the first round, but he came back and went the distance, made a fight of it. But Wilson was robbed here, and there’s not much more to it. It’s nothing against Arellano, he didn’t score the fight, he just fought and did his best. This wasn’t a big card and as such, this won’t get much attention, but it’s about as bad a decision as you’re going to see anywhere.
Joseph Rodriguez SD-6 Darryl Hayes
Scores were 58-56 from all three judges, two giving it to Rodriguez (15-0-1, 2 KO), one to Hayes (6-13, 1 KO). More than Hayes looking particularly better than you might expect, this was Rodriguez not looking as good as his record. The 26-year-old Rodriguez is a lightweight trying to make a mark as a prospect. He beat the badly faded Antonio Escalante last October, but getting a look at him here, I wouldn’t expect much going forward, honestly.
Henry Arredondo TKO-2 Jahaziel Vazquez
Arredondo (3-0, 1 KO) flashed a little power in the opening round, then destroyed Vazquez (2-10, 1 KO) with a left hook about halfway into the second round. The punch came up from under and clocked Vazquez totally unaware, and he was out on his feet. Arredondo, 22, gave him a light little shove to tip him over, and that was the fight at 1:17 of round two. “Technically that’s not legal, but he was going down anyway!” was the terrific call on commentary. And, well, true enough. Vazquez was done there, and instead of teeing off, Arredondo just kinda nudged him over. Good sportsmanship, really.
