Daniel Pineda expects to KO Alex Caceres in the “first or second round” at UFC Vegas 74

Daniel Pineda wasn’t sure if he was going to fight again after his UFC San Antonio win.

The fight was Pineda’s last on his contract and he admits he said he thought about retiring if the UFC didn’t pay him what he wanted. However, just days after his win, the UFC offered him a new five-fight deal which he was pleased to sign.

“They literally hit us up the next day and my manager started talking and everything went well and now we got a five-fight deal… I’m more excited to go fight now,” Pineda said on Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com.

Once Pineda re-signed with the UFC, he thought he would return near the end of summer. However, he was offered a fight against the 15th-ranked featherweight in Alex Caceres at UFC Vegas 74 which he couldn’t turn down.

“I was excited, he has been around for a long time, he pretty much started his career in the UFC,” Pineda said. “It’s exciting to fight someone like that, that has been in the UFC. I got more fights than him but he has like more than double the UFC fights I do. That says something, he has fought the best for a long time.”

Entering the scrap, Daniel Pineda knows Alex Caceres is durable and lengthy fighter which makes him hard to hit. Yet, he is confident in his power and believes he will be able to end this fight rather quickly and become the first person to KO Caceres since 2015 which is the only time he’s lost by knockout.

“We are working on a lot of jiu-jitsu stuff so that’s there. We know he’s a good striker, it just depends on what he comes with that day. I’m either going to knock him out or I’m going to submit him, it depends on where he wants the fight to be. Can he stop my shot? If I can’t take him down I’m going to knock him out,” Pineda said. “I know he has good jits but I feel like I have more power, he’s longer and faster, I just need to get my hands on him… I’m not going to look past this guy, I’m going to go in there and I’ve been working on my cardio a lot. My goal is to finish him in the first two rounds, I want to have that 29th finish.”

If Pineda does indeed get the knockout win over Caceres at UFC Vegas 74, he isn’t sure what is next but knows it will likely be another ranked opponent.

“It puts me 15th and there are all killers up there… It’s whoever they put in front of me,” Pineda concluded.