Rafa Garcia vs. Chris Gruetzemacher

Round 1
The new preliminary headliner, a bout that was place on the main card earlier today, goes down at lightweight between gritty grinder “Gritz” Gruetzemacher (14-4, 2-3 UFC) and gumptious grappler “Gifted” Garcia (11-1, 0-1 UFC). Referee Chris Tognoni is disappointed that his name has a “G” and is not included in the above alliteration, and the two touch ‘em up to start the fight. Garcia starts off quick with a combination that catches Gruetzemacher unaware, with a left hand that whips his hair back. Gruetzemacher marches forward to throw several kicks, and Garcia rolls to land a right hand and gets swiped with a finger in the eye. The action does not stop, and instead Garcia slams his fist into Gruetzemacher’s chin. The blow is damaging, and Gruetzemacher stumbles back into the cage as Garcia sprints at him and wails on him. Gruetzemacher grits it out, stands up, defends from a bad position and breaks away. “Gifted” gives him several gifts with a lengthy barrage of blows, and Gruetzemacher fires back to open up a cut under Garcia’s left eye. Garcia flails with punches and kicks the calf of his opponent, and he stings Gruetzemacher with an uppercut that splits his guard. Garcia clubs Gruetzemacher with a right hand, and he drops down to hit an easy takedown and put “Gritz” on his back. Garcia postures up to hammer him with a heavy elbow, and Gruetzemacher bursts back to his feet. As the two get into a tight clinch and trade with bad intentions, a knee clacks off Garcia’s cup. Garcia waves it off to keep fighting, and another knee in the groin follows to force a pause in the action. When the fight resumes after about 45 seconds of break, both men are ready to trade again. They get close and lay into each other, landing thudding punches and knees in a close clinch. Both men knee the other’s body until Garcia drops down for a single. Gruetzemacher defends with an elbow on the side of the head, and although he breaks the grip, Garcia doubles down on it. They both stand up, and crack each other with elbows. The strikes come one after the other, and they are pouring it on, until Gruetzemacher targets the body to great effect. A few more body shots land for Gruetzemacher until the horn sounds.

Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-9 Garcia
Brian Knapp scores the round: 10-9 Garcia
Tyler Treese scores the round: 10-9 Garcia

Round 2
The pace is notably slower as the second round begins, with a more methodical effort as Garcia tries to catch his breath after a storm of the opening frame. Gruetzemacher wades forward, spams leg kicks and body shots, and Garcia is backing off against the cage. Gruetzemacher chases after him with a head kick, and his constant forward pressure is starting to tire Garcia to a noticeable degree. Gruetzemacher lands to the head and body at will, and Garcia changes things up after taking some damage to hit a takedown. Garcia gets him down for a moment, but not for long, as Gruetzemacher powers up and lands again to the torso. Garcia pushes his foe into the fence as his cardio appears to be betraying him, while Gruetzemacher stays steady and tries to get off the chain links. Garcia gets away with fence grabs as he pins Gruetzemacher to the wall, until “Gritz” bursts his way out and cracks Garcia with a right hand. Gruetzemacher walks through a leg kick and a punch so that he can pummel Garcia, whose strikes are still landing heavily but not affecting him like the previous round. Gruetzemacher scores a left hand to the liver with an audible thud, and he completely ignores an uppercut to wade forward and pressure Garcia with body shots. Garcia comes at him from over the top with a right hand, but Gruetzemacher ducks down and pounds his body with more strikes. Gruetzemacher sneaks an elbow above the guard, and he starts to target his strikes as Garcia shells up and backs away. Gruetzemacher lands on his foe’s gloves until he gets one past to the body, lining them up and scoring one after the other. The round ends when Garcia trips Gruetzemacher to the ground.

Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-9 Gruetzemacher
Brian Knapp scores the round: 10-9 Gruetzemacher
Tyler Treese scores the round: 10-9 Gruetzemacher

Round 3
The lightweights touch hands to start off the last round, and Gruetzemacher gives chase quickly and lands a right hand while walking through a leg kick. Gruetzemacher is charged up, landing punches and mixing them up with knees and elbows as Garcia’s pace wanes dramatically. “Gritz” cracks Garcia with an uppercut, and he puts together several body shots to soften Garcia up. The Mexican fighter, on his heels and busted up from the strikes, shoots in low for a takedown. Garcia lands in side control, taking the wind out of Gruetzemacher’s sails as he traps him and squeezes down with his shoulder. Garcia stays in this position without doing anything, until Tognoni starts to warn him to do more. This forces Garcia to advance, only for Gruetzemacher to sit up against the wall covered in his foe’s blood. Gruetzemacher shows his energy reserves are still intact as he simply stands back up, and he walks Garcia down and rocks him with punches. Gruetzemacher sits down on an uppercut that hurts Garcia, and he paws out several left hands and shrugs off oncoming fire to work Garcia over. Gruetzemacher tees off on Garcia with uppercuts and short shots, and Garcia is fighting back with everything he has left. This quickly works against him when Gruetzemacher targets the body again, until Garcia drops down and hits a takedown to plop Gruetzemacher on his back. Gruetzemacher looks irritated that he was so easily grounded again, and precious seconds tick off the clock as control time adds up for the fighter out of Mexico. Gruetzemacher keeps a butterfly guard until Garcia tries to pass his guard, and Gruetzemacher sits up against the wire and takes a knee to the chest. Gruetzemacher stands up and lands a knee to the body, leading Garcia to desperately try to take him down again. The takedown fails, and Gruetzemacher whiffs on a punch as the grueling fight concludes.

Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-9 Gruetzemacher (29-28 Gruetzemacher)
Brian Knapp scores the round: 10-9 Gruetzemacher (29-28 Gruetzemacher)
Tyler Treese scores the round: 10-9 Gruetzemacher (29-28 Gruetzemacher)

The Official Result
Chris Gruetzemacher def. Rafa Garcia via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Alexander Hernandez vs. Chris Gruetzemacher

Round 1
Capping off the preliminary portion of the event – even though the entire card airs on ESPN+ from start to finish – is a lightweight battle when “Gritz” Gruetzemacher (14-3, 2-2 UFC) makes a return from a lengthy layoff to face Hernandez (11-3, 3-2 UFC). The referee in charge of this bout is Mark Smith, and the two 155ers don’t touch gloves to start the match, so Gruetzemacher kicks him on the leg a few times. Hernandez throws a kick back low, and then flings a head kick. The two men keep landing leg kicks one another at a distance, and Hernandez gets off a right hand at the end of a combination. Gruetzemacher walks through it and the two continues to ding each other with leg kicks. Hernandez clips Gruetzemacher with a one-two, and then another makes “Gritz” take a quick count of his teeth. Gruetzemacher marches forward as he pushes out a jab, and Hernandez nails him with a right hand. Gruetzemacher ducks down, and Hernandez boots him in the face with a kick, but the Arizona native wears it well. Hernandez hurts him with a left hand, and Gruetzemacher wobbles and falls across the fence. Hernandez pours it on sensing that Gruetzemacher might be hurt.
“Alexander the Great” chains together several punches that all land hard on the chin, and one final uppercut shuts the lights out and sends Gruetzemacher crashing to the canvas in a heap.
This was a spectacular display for Hernandez, who put on a show and recorded a big finish in less than two minutes, all while scoring the first knockout against the durable Gruetzemacher.

The Official Result
Alexander Hernandez def. Chris Gruetzemacher R1 1:46 via KO (Punches)