Former “Road To UFC” flyweight competitor Mark Climaco added another big performance to his record on Friday night, going three rounds against Victor Dias to win via unanimous decision.
The decision victory for Climaco headlined LFA 192, which took place this weekend from the Kaiser Permanente Arena in Santa Cruz, California, USA.
Sharp stand-up skills mixed with an ability to stay out of trouble on the ground allowed Climaco to walk away with the win.
Climaco landed the better shots against Dias, out-boxing the Brazilian prospect throughout the fight. While Dias was often the advancing fighter, Climaco found success counter-striking from the perimeter of the cage.
Climaco earned nearly five minutes of control time, a large part of which came in the opening round after scoring a takedown. Recognizing that Dias had a grappling background, Climaco opted to simply control his opponent instead of attack and search for submissions when on the ground.
“I wanted to out-strike him on the feet and then shut him down whenever we got on the ground,” Climaco said in his post-fight interview. “I knew I would be fine once we hit the mat, but I just had to be aware of what he was good at. I knew he had good submission threats and stuff like that.”
Friday’s main event was a return to LFA for Climaco, who has fought all around the world for the past year and a half. In 2023, he competed as part of the “Road To UFC” tournament, an eight-person bracket that had a grand prize of a UFC contract. He was eliminated in the bracket’s semi-finals by Rei Tsuruya, who went on to win the entire season and remain undefeated on the UFC roster thus far.
Climaco bounced back from that loss early this year with an appearance in UAE Warriors, beating Tumelo Manyamala via split decision. He has now picked up a pair of wins, regaining momentum as he tries to once again campaign for a spot in one of the sport’s larger promotions.
Brazil’s Dias was similarly trying to rally together some wins after coming close to a UFC opportunity. He appeared on the 2023 season of “Dana White’s Contender Series,” losing via decision to Kevin Borjas. He entered Friday night just a few months removed from a big win on the regionals, scoring a first-round finish over UFC alum Justin Scoggins.
Friday night’s main event was also an emotional performance for Climaco, competing for the first time since the passing of his father. Climaco noted after his win that his father was the one who first introduced him to a gym.
“It’s been a super tough year for me and my family,” he said. “I just wanted to dedicate this fight to my Dad. He’s with my heart, always. He was such a great man. I will forever thank him and thank God for blessing me with such a great Dad.”
Kyrgyzstan-based fighter Aziz Osorbek Uulu earned a quick victory in the co-main event, slipping in a rear naked choke to submit Filipe Esteves in the first round. Earlier in the night, Randall Wallace got past Renato Valente after a hectic three-round battle.
Here are the quick results from LFA 192:
Main Card (10:00PM EDT / 7:00PM PDT) (UFC Fight Pass)
Bout 8: Mark Climaco def. Victor Dias via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 7: Aziz Osorbek Uulu def. Filipe Esteves via Submission, Rear Naked Choke (RD 1, 4:47)
Bout 6: Randall Wallace def. Renato Valente via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 5: Isaac Thomson def. Israel Delgado via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 4: Theo Haig def. Dylan Diebitz via Submission, Rear Naked Choke (RD 2, 4:03)
Preliminary Card
Bout 3: Aupuni Pagaoa def. Houston Scibek via TKO, Strikes (RD 1, 4:36)
Bout 2: Shad Walters def. Jaime Mora-Munoz via Submission, Guillotine Choke (RD 1, 2:44)
Bout 1: Corvan Allen def. Roger Severson via Decision, Unanimous
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