Donald Cerrone, Michelle Waterson fall at UFC on ESPN 24

Women’s strawweight contender Marina Rodriguez sent a message to the rest of the division with a unanimous-decision win over Michelle Waterson in the main event of the UFC on ESPN 24 card at the Apex on Saturday night.

“This proved a lot about the work I’m doing and where I am,” she said. “I believe I’m on a good route for a title shot. What I want now is a top three opponent and now I know I can fight five tough rounds with anybody.”

The bout was contested at flyweight because both women accepted the fight on short notice. Rodriguez had to deal with a brutal travel schedule just to make it to Las Vegas, but she looked in control once she stepped in the cage.

The Brazilian took advantage of her reach advantage and landed shots from the outside, winning each of the first three rounds before Waterson stemmed the tide with a takedown in the fourth. Waterson maintained top position throughout the round and did some damage, though she never really threatened to end the fight.

Waterson also landed a kick that immediately swelled Rodriguez’s jaw and cheek in the fifth round only to see Rodriguez find success in the final two minutes.

“I was able to avoid much damage from the takedown,” Rodriguez said. “That was the main thing was to get through it because I knew I still had the fifth round.

“She’s so experienced and I knew that going in. I said in my interviews she was Invicta champion when I was doing my first Muay Thai class. I looked up to her and knew she was tough. To go five rounds with her and win is a big feat for my career.”

Welterweight Alex Morono experienced a similar accomplishment on Saturday, scoring the highest-profile win of his career with a first-round knockout of veteran Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone.

Morono accepted the fight just a week ago and didn’t have much time to think about the task at hand, but it started to hit him when Kid Rock’s “Cowboy” hit the speakers and Cerrone started walking to the cage.

“I’m so happy to win the fight,” he said. “Seeing him in there and hearing his song was so cool.”

Morono wasn’t in awe for very long. Shortly after stuffing a Cerrone takedown attempt midway through the first round, he landed an overhand right as Cerrone moved forward. Morono pounced on a staggered Cerrone and forced the referee to step in after a series of punches as Cerrone covered up against the cage.

The win came a week after Morono was coaching a group of his students in a martial arts tournament when he got a phone call saying a fight against Cerrone was a possibility.

“On Sunday, I got the official yes,” the 30-year-old said. “I knew I had one day of hard training and then it was time to just fly to Vegas and have a blast.”

Fellow welterweight Neil Magny rallied from a difficult first round to score a unanimous decision over Geoff Neal in a matchup of two fighters ranked in the top 10 in the division.

Magny took advantage of his reach and typical edge in cardio to settle in to the fight as he avoided Neal’s immense power.

“It was a great fight,” Magny said. “It feels good to go out there and get the victory against a guy like that. I was completely aware of the fact that I was the underdog. This was my time to shine and prove the doubters wrong.”

A bout between Amanda Ribas and Angela Hill was removed from the card hours before the event when Ribas and her father, one of her coaches, tested positive for COVID-19.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.