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In a standup battle between two strikers, Eddie Wineland’s consistent forward pressure wasn’t enough to give him a win over Alejandro Perez.

Perez (21-6-1 MMA, 7-1-1 UFC) took a unanimous decision from Wineland (23-13-1 MMA, 5-7 UFC), a former WEC champion who was returning from the longest layoff of his pro career. Perez won with a trio of 29-28 scores.

The bantamweight bout closed out the preliminary card of today’s UFC Fight Night 133 event at CenturyLink Arena in Boise, Idaho. It aired on FS1 following additional prelims on UFC Fight Pass and ahead of the main card on FS1.

Wineland came forward quickly looking for a combination. Perez answered with a jab before they traded low kicks. They tied up 30 seconds in, but broke apart quickly. Perez missed a spinning back fist a minute in, but landed a left jab not long after that. Two minutes in, Wineland landed a solid right, but then ate a two-punch combination from Perez. Perez landed a knee, then a right hand over the top with about 90 seconds left.

But with 75 seconds left, Wineland put Perez on the canvas with a counter right hand. He let Perez up, then landed another right before blocking a high kick. Perez dropped for a takedown with 45 seconds left, but couldn’t complete it. Perez landed with 20 seconds left, and the two traded combos in the closing seconds.

Perez tried a high kick 30 seconds into the second round and partially connected, but missed a spinning fist behind it. Midway through, Wineland was bleeding from the nose, but continued to move forward more than Perez. Perez landed an uppercut with two minutes left, but Wineland followed with a body shot and a punch. A spinning fist missed again for Perez, but Wineland couldn’t score with his immediate counter. With 40 seconds left, Perez threw a kick and slipped, but Wineland didn’t take advantage.

Perez worked kicks in the first minute of the final frame and nearly took Wineland off his feet. A combo landed after that. Wineland landed to the body, then ducked away from a jumping knee from Perez. Wineland countered with a solid right, then landed a body shot and easily stuffed a Perez takedown attempt with three minutes left. Perez landed a counter right with 90 seconds left. Wineland put a combination together with 20 seconds left, then swung for the fences late.

“I’m very happy to have the win tonight,” Perez said. “Eddie is a very tough opponent and very respected. He is a counter puncher and he is very precise with those punches, so I had to be careful not to get caught. In the second round, we decided to start working in some wrestling to mix things up. It didn’t work as much as we planned, but it was a fun fight and back-and-forth, so I think we made the fans happy. I want to keep moving up the rankings. I would be interested in fighting Pedro Munhoz or Thomas Almeida next.”

Perez ran his unbeaten streak to to seven fights and has won four straight. Wineland lost for the second straight time after a loss to John Dodson in April 2017.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 133 results include:

• Alejandro Perez def. Eddie Wineland via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Alex Volkanovski def. Darren Elkins via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
• Said Nurmagomedov def. Justin Scoggins via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Raoni Barcelos def. Kurt Holobaugh via TKO (punches) – Round 3, 1:29
• Liz Carmouche def. Jennifer Maia via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
• Mark De La Rosa def. Elias Garcia via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 2:00
• Jessica Aguilar def. Jodie Esquibel via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 133, check out the UFC Events section of the site.